Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhockhouse will soon be closed to the public and could lose its UNESCO World Heritage Site designation if the budget cut proposed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is passed by the city council.
The architectural landmark above Barnesdall Art Park in East Hollywood is managed by the city’s Department of Culture, with two full-time staff running tours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday to handle the building’s maintenance.
The mayor’s proposed budget will partially close the roughly $1 billion shortfall by laying off more than 1,600 city employees, eliminate one of those two staff positions and cut two vacancies at Hollyhock House.
The Department of Culture had interviewed candidates in vacant positions and offered to work as an arts manager. However, after the mayor announced the proposed budget, the department had to withdraw the offer and suspend other job interviews.
“One full-time staff will not be able to manage both the tour program and the preservation and will require public tour halts until additional full-time staff recover,” said department spokesman Juan Garcia.
Amidst a massive budget shortage caused by largely rising labor costs, rising legal payments and slowing down the local economy, the department head testified before the mayor’s budget committee on how the cuts proposed by the mayor will affect urban services.
The Cultural Affairs Division faces 14 layoffs and 10 vacancies out of a total of 91 positions. The cut could also lead to the closure of the Lincoln Heights Youth Arts Center, said Daniel Tarica, general manager of the department.
Oil heir Aline Burnsdall commissioned the Hollyhock home in 1918. She didn’t live there and thus donated to the city in 1927.
In 2019, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the only artificial world heritage site on the West Coast.
The house was closed for more than two years and reopened after undergoing major renovations in August 2022.
The monumental fireplace, which unites four classic elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, has recovered, similarly to the art glass balcony doors in the master bedroom.
The sofa table designed by the two lights was reinstalled, which the architects said they thought was “part of the home’s design itself.”
The improvements included a major restoration of the guesthouse.
The UNESCO designation required four full-time staff members in the House, spokesman Garcia said. The department requested that the city council recover three positions in the final budget. This must pass by June 1st.
“The proposed staffing delivery will have a serious impact on the management of the Hollyhock House and will destroy the baseline staffing commitment made by the City of Los Angeles as part of the 2019 World Heritage List inscription,” Garcia said.
The proposed cut is a shocked conservative.
“UNESCO World Heritage Status is a great honor that needs to be cultivated and cannot be lost by robbing public access,” said Kim Cooper, one of two members of tour company Esotouric, a conservative blog. “The Hollyhock home is one of the only Wright’s Los Angeles homes that people can tour, and has recently been restored at a huge cost.”
Hugo Soto Martinez, a representative of the region, said it is essential to maintain the home’s UNESCO status in light of the upcoming Olympics and World Cups.
“We are exploring all options throughout the budget process to save our dedicated Hollyhock House staff and maintain our protected status,” he said in a statement.
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