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Structure Type: built works - public buildings - city halls
Designers: Gibbs, C. Hugh, and Donald H. Gibbs, Architects (firm); Homolka, Frank, and Associates, Architects (firm); Killingsworth, Brady and Associates (firm); Montgomery Ross Fisher, Incorporated, Building Contractors (firm); Jules Ellsworth Brady (architect); Charles Hugh Gibbs (architect); Donald Hugh Gibbs (architect); Frank Homolka (architect); Edward Abel Killingsworth (architect); Kenneth Smith Wing Jr. (architect); Kenneth Smith Wing Sr. (architect)
Dates: constructed 1973-1977
14 stories, total floor area: 280,000 sq. ft.
Overview
The City of Long Beach had its City Hall #3 and Main Library located in the six-acre Burton W. Chace Civic Center complex that also included the Los Angeles County Courts Building (aka the "County Offices Building," completed 1959), Long Beach Public Safety Building (1960), Yokkaichi Garden and the County Parking Garage (1962), and Bicentennial Tower (1976). Broadway bounded the Long Beach Civic Center on the north, Magnolia Avenue on the west, Pacific Avenue on the east and Ocean Boulevard on the south. The garage stood on the west side of Magnolia Avenue. A consortium of four architectural firms--Hugh and Donald Gibbs, Frank Homolka and Associates, Killingsworth, Brady and Associates and Kenneth S. Wing, Sr. and Kenneth S. Wing, Jr., produced the plans for the Long Beach-Los Angeles Civic Center Authority. This local, architectural consortium was known as "Allied Architects," distinct from a consortium of the same name that planned the Los Angeles City Hall in the 1920s. The Long Beach-Los Angeles Civic Center Authority named the civic center in honor of Burton W. Chace (1901-1972), Mayor of Long Beach (1947-1953)Los Angeles County Supervisor (1953-1972), who died in a car accident on 08/22/1972.
Building History
The members of the Long Beach-Los Angeles Civic Center Authority that commissioned the city hall-library complex included: Robert C. Westmyer, Chair, Gene M. Bishop, Jess D. Gilkerson, John W. Torpey, Raymonf C. Kealer and Jonah Jones. Construction commenced on 09/24/1973, when existing buildings on the site were demolished. A building dedication occurred on 07/04/1976, as part of the US Bicentennial celebration. City employees began to occupy the complex on 02/04/1977. The noted landscape architect, Peter J. Walker (born 1932), also collaborated on the project. The designers worked with the general contractor, Montgomery Ross Fisher, Incorporated of the Los Angeles.
Building Notes
This tower had four large footings each composed of 650 cubic yards of reinforced concrete. The frame supporting the 271-foot-tall tower contained about 3,000 tons of structural steel. Four elevators served building employees and visitors.
Tel: (562) 570-6555 (2008).
Demolition
This building was located just east of the City Hall #4, and was set to be demolished in 2020, and replaced by private development.
PCAD id: 1125
