AKA: Wilshire Grace Church, Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, CA

Structure Type: built works - commercial buildings - banks (buildings)

Designers: Shapiro, Irving D., Architect (firm); Irving Donald Shapiro (architect)

Dates: constructed 1964-1965

5220 Wilshire Boulevard
Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, CA 90036

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Demolished; the Columbia Savings Building was razed "...despite an intensive preservation effort." According to the Los Angeles Concervancy's web site: "With its bold design, expansive use of glass for transparency, and integrated program of abstract art, the Columbia Savings building was an exceptional example of national postwar banking trends. Displaying the influence of New Formalism, the building’s modernist form and symmetry represented a reinterpretation of the classically inspired banks of the turn-of-the-twentieth century. Exceptional signage included two sculptural pylons soaring eighty-five-feet tall. Visible from great distances, their incredible height marked the evolution of building signage in response to Los Angeles’ auto-oriented society." (See "Advocacy Issues: Columbia Savings Building,"Accessed 04/18/2012.) Despite this assessment, a report prepared by Chattel Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Incorporated, found the building not fit for any historic designation at the local, state, and national level. (See Chattel Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Incorporated, "Appendix IV.C, draft EIR, the City of Los Angeles Planning Department,Accessed 05/02/2013.)

PCAD id: 17773