Business Block

The Business Block building is a historic building located in Pacific Palisades, California, that was designed by architect Clifton Nourse and dedicated in 1924. The building is and sits on of land. The Business Block building is located between Antioch, Swarthmore and Sunset in the Village neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, an area in the Westside of Los Angeles, California.

History

In 1925 photos of the building, there is a small park across the street on the other side of Swarthmore before a service station was built there years later. Thus Park was eventually restored as the Village Green in 1973. This Spanish Colonial Revival-style structure has long benefited from the large adjacent parking lot below Via de la Paz as well as a deep setback in front of most of the building.

In 1982, real estate developer Rohit Joshi made a $4.5-million cash offer for the landmark building. Joshi said at the time that he intended to demolish the Business Block building to make way for a $22-million, three-story shopping mall with an underground parking garage. Joshi would later admit that he was unprepared for the massive uproar from local residents that ensued, which culminated in a massive rally on the Village Green which was organized by Joan Graves, wife of then Honorary Mayor Peter Graves. Mrs. Graves would later state, “We got most of the celebrities in the Palisades organized ncluding her husband Peter, and former honorary mayors of the Palisades including Ted Knight, Dom DeLuise, Walter Matthau and John Raitt], rented a big stage and closed Swarthmore for our rally. We had bands and singers, and speeches about why it was important to save the building—and we made it on the evening news!”

When Joshi ultimately backed out of the deal, Mrs. Graves and her supporters convinced the company TOPA Management to purchase the aging structure in 1983, bring it up to state earthquake standards and give it a new paint job. The following year the Business Block building was officially rededicated and was declared a City of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument.

In 2020, architects working on behalf of the building's owner, TOPA Management, offered their design plan for a renovation of the building that would include painting it white with black awnings, from its original pink with green awnings. This concept did not go over well with residents across the community.

References

{{LAHMC

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Mid-City, Los Angeles
Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles