Barnsdall Art Park is a city park located in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Parking and arts buildings access is from Hollywood Boulevard on the north side of the park. The park is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, and a facility of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. The Barnsdall Art Park Foundation, a nonprofit organization, helps manage Barnsdall Art Park and the activities there.
Aline Barnsdall donated Barnsdall Park to the City of Los Angeles for arts and recreational purposes, including the preservation of the historic architecture and landscape features. Located at the crest of Olive Hill, Barnsdall Art Park overlooks the city of Los Angeles, and the Hollywood Hills, including Griffith Park. The park is centered on Barnsdall's Hollyhock House designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, a city and national landmark and World Heritage Site.
History The site's previous owner, Aline Barnsdall, was an oil heiress from Pennsylvania who had wanted to develop an arts and live-theater complex. Before Barnsdall owned Olive Hill, it was undeveloped and had contained olive trees since the 1890s, when J. H. Spires had planted an olive grove there. Despite being close to streetcar routes, Olive Hill was not appealing to developers because it was not near either Downtown Los Angeles or central Hollywood. The hill had hosted Easter services for years before Barnsdall's acquisition of the site. At the time of Barnsdall's purchase, the olive trees were planted apart on a grid, and the hill was accessed by two roads from the southeast and northeast.
Barnsdall first met the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago by 1915, when she hired him to design a building for the Chicago Little Theatre. After vacationing in California, she decided to erect the theatrical building there instead. Barnsdall bought the site in June 1919, and Wright worked on designing Barnsdall's theater and house during that year. Plans for the estate were modified in 1920 to include an apartment house, a building with artists' studios and shops, additional residences, and a cinema. By 1923, Barnsdall had abandoned her plans to develop a theater on the site. Only two guest houses (Residences A and B) were built, of which only the former still exists.
Acquisition of land
In December 1923, Barnsdall offered to donate Hollyhock House to the city government so the Los Angeles Public Library and the Department of Recreation and Parks could have used the house.; The offer included , covering the summit of Olive Hill and the main house. The city government initially accepted the gift; but ultimately rejected it in early 1924, saying the terms of her gift were too restrictive.; Despite local groups' attempts to buy the rest of Olive Hill, Barnsdall sold some land to a syndicate for $2 million in February 1924;; the sale was finalized in May.; Barnsdall later offered the house and the remaining land to the city again, this time with few restrictions. The city of Los Angeles accepted the gift on December 22, 1926, along with the surrounding land, which became Barnsdall Art Park.; The initial donation covered . The Los Angeles Times wrote at the time that the site was "of much picturesque beauty and eminently suited to the purpose of a playground". The California Art Club leased Hollyhock House as their clubhouse for fifteen years.
Barnsdall proposed constructing a Greek amphitheater in Barnsdall Park in early 1927,; which would have had 1,000 seats. Known as the Little Lattice Playhouse, the amphitheater opened in Barnsdall Park in June 1927.; The same August, Barnsdall donated Residence A to the city. The donation included of land, and Barnsdall planned to spend $200,000 erecting a community art theater nearby. Residence A reopened as a recreation building in February 1928. A playground was also added to Barnsdall Park around the same time, hosting competitions and holiday events. In addition, the city's park commission announced in 1929 that it would install ornamental lamps around Barnsdall Park, which were dedicated the next year.
1930s and 1940s In February 1931, Barnsdall offered to donate another at the outer edge of the park to the city of Los Angeles, which would lease it for eight years with an option to buy it for $2 million. The city government agreed to the lease.; Local residents objected, citing the fact that they would pay more taxes,; and veterans' groups criticized the move because they thought Barnsdall's donation prevented the erection of war monuments.; Despite this, the city government formally agreed to obtain the 9-acre plot that March,; and it also agreed to lease an adjacent parcel of for five years. Lloyd Wright designed a 400-seat children's theater and wading pool on the newly acquired land, which would replace the Little Lattice Playhouse. A city attorney invalidated the city's acquisition,; claiming that the city could not enter into agreements lasting more than three years. Barnsdall offered to lease to the city for three years; however, city park officials did not consider this suggestion.
After the city of Los Angeles rejected her donation, Barnsdall then threatened to take back ownership of the entire site, including Hollyhock House,; and she sued in October 1931 to take back the land.; Local residents requested in 1935 that the Los Angeles city government install picnic shelters at the park. Barnsdall sued the California Art Club in February 1938 in an attempt to take back ownership of Hollyhock House,; though she agreed that October to postpone the lawsuit indefinitely. By the next year, Barnsdall tried to sell the land surrounding the house. A judge ruled in 1941 that Barnsdall could take back ownership of Residence B, while the city of Los Angeles could keep the remainder of the Olive Hill estate, including Hollyhock House. The city's land and Barnsdall's property were separated by the park's internal driveway.; Barnsdall retained Residence B until her death in 1946, when she bequeathed that residence to her daughter Betty. The will specified that Betty not sell Residence B for ten years, and then not for less than $2 million.;
During the mid-1940s, Barnsdall and the city of Los Angeles were involved in a dispute over whether the park's access driveway was partially owned by Barnsdall.; Although Barnsdall put barricades on the driveway, ostensibly to protect children, the city ordered her to dismantle them.; The dispute led Barnsdall to again threaten to take back control of the entire park, and she was convicted after illegally allowing her dogs to run freely through the park.; By 1946, there were proposals to construct a medical school for the University of California, Los Angeles, in Barnsdall Park.; Members of a local parent–teacher association cleaned up Barnsdall Park in 1948 after local residents complained about the presence of vagrants. The Los Angeles Fire Department said at the time that the park posed a fire hazard, while the Los Angeles Police Department said the untrimmed shrubbery allowed criminals to hide there. The next year, Los Angeles city councilman Lloyd G. Davies proposed that the city acquire land around Vermont Avenue and Sunset Boulevard, thereby expanding the park, to prevent the redevelopment of that site.; In addition, Barnsdall's friend Dorothy Clune Murray offered to buy around Olive Hill and donate it to the city.;
1950s to 1970s In 1950, there was a proposal to redevelop the perimeter of Barnsdall Park as part of a $15 million commercial and residential development called Barnsdall Square.; Los Angeles's city planning commission approved the development that September. The southwest corner of the park, at Edgemont Street and Sunset Boulevard, was sold for $200,000 in 1951; the buyers wished to redevelop the site into a hospital. Ultimately, Stiles Clements designed a shopping complex to the east of the park, which became known as Barnsdall Square. The hospital was built to the south, and apartments were built to the west. Frank Lloyd Wright was hired to design an art pavilion next to the original house, which opened in 1954.; Residence B was demolished the same year. The annex to Hollyhock House was rededicated in 1956 as the Municipal Art Gallery. The city also created a master plan for Barnsdall Art Park in the 1950s; Wright was hired as a consultant,; but the master plan was not carried out.
In 1963, the northeast corner of the park, at Hollywood Boulevard and Vermont Avenue, was redeveloped as a shopping center. During that decade, the Associates for the Municipal Art Gallery was established to host social events at Barnsdall Park and Hollyhock House. A second master plan was published in May 1964.; This master plan, designed by Hunter & Benedict and Kahn, Farrell & Associates, called for nine new buildings, which were to be built in four phases. There would be a junior art center, a municipal history museum, a 450-seat auditorium, a workshop building, an administration building, and food concessions. The first phase was funded by about $180,000 in municipal bonds, while the other three phases required $2.5 million in private donations. During the same time, a member of local group Municipal Art Patrons designed a new entrance to the park.
Roland H. Escherich Construction Inc. was hired to build the Junior Art Center, which was planned to cost $370,000; that building opened in May 1967.; Plans for a new Municipal Art Gallery was announced in mid-1968 after the city government provided $97,000 for design and $903,500 for construction. The design by Arthur Stephens called for a structure with an art gallery, auditorium, offices, and storage space.; John E. Meskell was hired in August 1969 to build the gallery, which opened in March 1971. The buildings in the other two phases of the park's renovation were canceled, since there was not enough space to build parking lots for additional visitors.
1980s to present In 1985, a task force recommended that mayor Tom Bradley form a committee to devise plans for Barnsdall Park's future. The city government announced in 1986 that it would renovate Barnsdall Park and had allocated $100,000 for a study into the renovation. Archiplan and Martin Eli Weil were hired to design the renovation. At the time, the park's relatively isolated location made it a frequent hangout for vagrants, and many visitors came from afar because Angelenos tended to ignore it. In addition, management of the park was split between several city-government agencies and organizations. In 1989, Frederick R. Weisman donated $100,000 for the creation of a sculpture garden at Barnsdall Park. The same year, the city installed a $150,000 irrigation system to revitalize the dying olive trees. The park would have received an additional $7 million for restoration as part of California Proposition 1, a $298.8 million bond issue that voters rejected in June 1991.;
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) constructed Los Angeles Metro Rail's Red Line (now the B Line) under Hollywood Boulevard in the early 1990s. As part of the project, the LACMTA proposed acquiring an adjacent car wash and replacing it with an improved entrance to Barnsdall Park. That September, the Department of Recreation and Parks approved the LACMTA's request to use part of the park as a staging area for the Red Line's construction.