The downtown commercial center of Los Angeles, historically the entertainment, office, and retail hub, is one of the city’s most underutilized assets. The center of the city had become marginalized and dilapidated as businesses moved to outlying suburban areas. Most of the historic resources in the area, however, remained intact and held great opportunities for urban revitalization and adaptive reuse.

Bruce D. Judd, FAIA, served as the Principal-in-charge for the Guidelines project while at Architectural Resources Group. The Los Angeles Conservancy and three Downtown Improvement Districts selected the firm to compile a series of design guidelines to help property owners and tenants preserve historic authenticity while encouraging commercial activity.

Over 200 historic office buildings and theaters in the central downtown Los Angeles area were inventoried as the first step in preparing design guidelines for the area. Design guidelines included information on how to treat storefronts, windows, signage, paint removal, lobby alterations and appropriate street furnishings.
The Design Guidelines are available to download at: http://www.laconservancy.org/initiatives/guidelines.php4

The California Preservation Foundation gave the completed project an Historic Preservation Design Award and the Los Angeles Business Council gave the guidelines their Architectural Award.