Latest news with #WayfarersChapel
Los Angeles Times
04-06-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
This national landmark had to move because of a landslide. Inside what's next for Wayfarers chapel
A year ago, one of the Los Angeles region's most beloved buildings was busy being dismantled, stone by stone, beam by beam. The Wayfarers Chapel, also informally known as the 'tree chapel' or 'glass church,' had since 1951 stood serenely on a lightly forested bluff in Rancho Palos Verdes, overlooking the waters of Abalone Cove. Designed for the nature-loving Swedenborgian Church by Lloyd Wright, the talented son of Frank Lloyd Wright, the building seemed to disappear into the redwood grove that surrounded it, thanks to its glass walls and ceiling, craggy Palos Verdes stone walls and laminated timber frame, which formed circles and squares symbolizing, among other things, the primal elements, the oneness of God and the unity of all life. No wonder it was the chosen site for 800 weddings a year. But the eerily shifting lands of the Portuguese Bend landslide — which also prompted the 2024 evacuation and loss of dozens of homes in the area — presented an existential threat to the chapel, and last May the church made the painful decision to take down what had just months before been named a national historic landmark, put its parts in storage and try to find a new home. 'We had no idea if we'd be rebuilding in one year or five,' said Katie Horak, a principal at the Los Angeles office of Architectural Resources Group, or ARG, which, with Gardena-based K.C. Restoration, led the dismantling. 'We just knew we had to save what we could.' Now a new site has been identified, although not yet secured. Over the weekend, Wayfarers Chapel's website began showcasing renderings, produced by ARG and landscape architects Agency Artifact. They showed the chapel, perched on an ocean-hugging hilltop a little more than a mile from its original location. The 4.9-acre parcel, which also houses a World War II-era bunker, is a former military installation called Battery Barnes, owned by the U.S. Coast Guard. It's a few hundred feet southwest of Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall. Rancho Palos Verdes City Manager Ara Mihranian confirmed that the city, which owns most of the land encircling the potential chapel site, was strongly supportive of Wayfarers moving to the proposed location. 'Wayfarers is one of our iconic symbols. It's been here longer than the city was incorporated. It's part of our landscape, our cultural DNA,' he said. Mihranian confirmed that the Coast Guard had begun the process of divesting the land to the city, which would then lease or sell it to the church. (Mihranian said the city would prefer to lease the land, but the church has said it would prefer to buy it, or swap it for its previous site.) The divestiture process could take a year or two, maybe more, said Mihranian, who noted that the chapel and the city recently submitted a letter to U.S. Congressman Ted Lieu, whose 36th District includes the site, to help expedite the process. 'It's not a done deal yet,' added Robert Carr, Wayfarers Chapel's administrative director. 'But we're closer than we've ever been. There's goodwill all around. We just have to make it happen.' Carr added that the site, abutting the Alta Vicente nature preserve, would be an ideal fit for the church. Geological surveys show no shifting land underneath, and in many ways it's similar to the original location. 'It's a high hilltop with a steep slope that has views a quarter mile away of the cliffs and the points and the bays,' Carr said. Horak added that it also works well from a preservation standpoint: 'It's close to the original location, shares the same coastal breeze, orientation and microclimate. That's critical for the sensitive materials we salvaged. The light, the view, even the way the wind moves across the hill — it's as if it was meant to be.' Carr said rebuilding would likely take place in stages, starting with the chapel, followed by a new bell tower, meeting hall (lost to a landslide in the 1980s), stone colonnade and facilities like a café and museum, which could be installed inside the site's former bunker, Carr said. The city and chapel have discussed a community hall that could be used for city events during the week and wedding receptions on the weekend. Fundraising, Carr said, has just started, but the chapel hopes to raise around $10 million by summer 2026 for the chapel. The group eventually wants to raise about $30 million for the entire project. Both figures, he said, could change as a design emerges. ARG and Agency Artifact created schematic designs for the chapel in its new location; the project's final design team has not been chosen. Putting the chapel back together in a way that preserves its integrity, Horak said, will be no easy task, no matter who works on it. Her team was able to save many of the building's component parts, like the wood building frame, steel window frames, stone walls and many of the roof tiles. It was also able to take a digital scan of the original building. But the glass will have to be new, as will the bell tower, which couldn't be saved (although its bells were). The chapel will need new seismic strengthening, and trees and landscaping will need to be planted along its periphery. But compared to what Horak described as the 'adrenaline-fueled' disassembly, which couldn't employ cranes or scaffolding due to the shifting earth, the process will be less stressful. 'At least we can use heavy equipment,' she said with a laugh. A museum at the new site could showcase, among many other things, Lloyd Wright's work on the chapel, Carr said. That would be a triumph for the architect, who designed important buildings in Los Angeles but never gained the recognition many think he deserved. One case in point: His astounding, X-shaped Moore House in nearby Palos Verdes Estates was unceremoniously demolished by its owners in 2012. 'Very few people can actually point to his work,' said Adrian Scott Fine, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Conservancy. As for the chapel's design, he said: 'There's nothing else like it. This is a place that people would go to almost like a pilgrimage.' Rev. James Lawrence, president of the Swedenborgian Church of North America, added that the crystalline Wayfarers had become the church's most prominent symbol. Several cities around the country, he said, had offered to house the reconstruction. 'We had a national cathedral in Washington, but Wayfarers became the national cathedral psychologically. There's something aesthetic and symbolic and powerful about the chapel that has made it such a well-known place around the planet.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Wayfarers Chapel to rebuild at new location in Rancho Palos Verdes
The Brief Wayfarers Chapel plans to be built at a new location just one mile west. The new location will sit on the Battery Barnes military site. The chapel closed in February 2024 due to accelerated land movement. LOS ANGELES - LA's iconic Wayfarers Chapel, located in Rancho Palos Verdes, might be rebuilt at a completely new location. The backstory The chapel closed in February 2024 due to 'accelerated land movement.' Large cracks were present on the foundation throughout the chapel, making it unstable. The74-year-old chapel wascompletely disassembled by July 2024. What we know As they look forward to rebuilding, organizers said the existing location is no longer ideal. According to Wayfarers Chapel's website, they plan to rebuild the new chapel only one mile west of the current location. The new location will sit on the Battery Barnes military site. On their website, they released four artistic renderings that show the chapel on the new Battery Barnes site, on the Alta Vicente hilltop above Point Vicente Lighthouse and the Golden Cove shopping center. What they're saying "With the original Chapel carefully disassembled and stored, we are now ready to rebuild the Chapel as soon as we can secure the prospective new site and raise rebuilding funds. Following the closure of the chapel in February 2024 and with disassembly completed in July 2024, we have determined that rebuilding on the previous (heritage) site is not possible for the future of Wayfarers Chapel. The new proposed location sits adjacent to Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall on the Battery Barnes military site," their website read. It's unclear when construction will start or when the new chapel will reopen. The Instagramable glass chapel is a popular wedding venue in LA. The 100-seat, glass chapel opened in 1951 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2023. The famed Mid-century Modern structure with glass walls was designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Source Information for this story came from the Wayfarers Chapel website.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wayfarers Chapel may have new home at unused military site
Southern California's iconic glass chapel may have found a new home in Rancho Palos Verdes. The famed Wayfarers Chapel was closed indefinitely last year due to unprecedented shifting of the ground below it. The church's leadership team made the decision to disassemble the beloved California landmark and wedding venue and reassemble it in another location. This week, church officials announced that they may have found the chapel's new grounds. According to the church's website, a new proposed location has been identified at Battery Barnes, a former munitions storage facility for the U.S. Coast Guard, adjacent to Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall. The four-acre property overlooking the Pacific Ocean was utilized during World War II and remains under Coast Guard jurisdiction. But city officials say the property has been unused for several years and the only structure on the land is vacant. The glass chapel, which was designated a Historic National Landmark in 2023, could be rebuilt on the hilltop above Point Vicente Lighthouse, a still active navigational landmark that is also the property of the Coast Guard. While the site has been tabbed as the future home to Wayfarers Chapel, and renderings have been made to show what the new campus may look like, church officials still need to procure the space and raise enough funds to reassemble the church and rebuild the surrounding infrastructure. The popular wedding chapel, which was designed by famed architect Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright) in the 1940s, previously stood among a crowd of trees that overlooked Abalone Cove, an area of the California coast that has experienced an ongoing, slow-moving 'geologic hazard.' Its campus in Rancho Palos Verdes had survived landslides and erosion for years, but those conditions have worsened since 2024, with homes swallowed by shifting hillsides and once-straight roads turned into winding, sloping slaloms. The chapel has hosted thousands of weddings, including celebrity nuptials, since it opened in 1951. It was closed to the public in February 2024, in hopes that the shifting of land would eventually slow down. But the ground continued to move as much as seven inches per week, officials said at the time. The chapel was fully disassembled in July 2024, and carefully placed into dedicated storage space. Dan Burchett, the chapel's executive director, said last year that rebuild efforts could cost as much as $20 million. It's unclear if those estimates have changed in 2025. If the church is able to secure the site and rebuild at the old military property, the new campus would feature a museum, a visitor's center and 'tranquil gardens,' the church website says. If leaders secure the money, the site will be rebuilt with a visitor's center, a museum, a cafe and gardens, according to the website, and guests will be treated to the same sweeping ocean views. For additional information about the proposed site, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
31-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Wayfarers Chapel announces prospective campus in Rancho Palos Verdes
After the ongoing land movement in Palos Verdes forced its closure last year, the Wayfarers Chapel may have found a new hilltop to call home. The National Historic Landmark's prospective campus is located on Battery Barnes next to Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, above Point Vicente Lighthouse and Golden Cove. It's roughly 1.7 miles away from the shuttered Portuguese Bend location. The National Historic Landmark's prospective campus is located on Battery Barnes next to Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, above Point Vicente Lighthouse and Golden Cove. It's roughly 1.7 miles away from the shuttered Portuguese Bend location. Wayfarers Chapel Over the last two years, land movement has severely damaged roads, homes and utilities in Rancho Palos Verdes, eventually leading the region's major natural gas and electricity providers to shut off their services to hundreds of residents. Since August, the Portuguese Bend slide has impacted about 650 homes. The ongoing natural disaster prompted FEMA and the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services to implement a $42 million voluntary buyout program, allowing residents to sell their homes at "fair market value." In October, geologists gave residents a small glimmer of hope after confirming that the slide had decelerated from an average of 13 inches a week to 8 inches, a roughly 38% decrease. Further studies conducted by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory showed that the movement slowed to about 4 inches a week in the fall of 2024. Once rebuilt, the Wayfarers Chapel campus would include a visitors center, a museum, a cafe and gardens. The 100-seat, glass chapel designed by famous architect Lloyd Wright originally opened in 1951. Wayfarers Chapel gained its National Landmark status in 2023. However, the decades-long Portuguese Bend landslide forced it to close in February 2024. In July 2024, construction crews fully disassembled the historic church while it waited for a new location. "We look forward to rebuilding and serving the community for another 75+ years," Wayfarers Chapel wrote on its website.
Daily Mail
19-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
The luxury homes threatened by cliff erosion in California enclave
A wealthy California town was facing the threat of falling into the ocean, but it has recently received a surprise reprieve. The unlikely savior of the idyllic town of Rancho Palos Verdes in Southern California is an ongoing drought in the area. The region, located southwest of downtown Los Angeles, has received 46 percent less rainfall than normal since the start of the rainy season this year. Until recently, residents had been watching their properties slip in to the sea at a terrifying rate of four inches a week, or 17 feet per year. However, local geologist Mike Phipps (pictured) informed residents at a city council meeting on May 6 that the rate has now stabilized or at least decelerated, SF Gate reported. 'Mr. Phipps believes this is largely due to significantly below-average rainfall through April,' the city council said in a write up of the meeting. The city said 'winterization efforts' and 'ongoing dewatering efforts' have also helped to bring about the slowdown. Last year the town experienced such heavy rainfall that the land became so soaked that it began to slip off into the sea . Houses became detached from their foundations as well as from municipal gas and power lines. Ranchos Palos Verdes, which has been dubbed America's richest retirement town, is home to 135 properties. More than a quarter of the city's 42,000 residents are over 65, with a median income of around $166,747. In February, the Wayfarers Chapel, which boasts with stunning views out to the Pacific Ocean, had to close completely - leaving almost 200 weddings in limbo. In October the federal government set aside $42 million to buy out Rancho Palos Verdes homeowners who were forced to abandon their properties. Under the Trump administration, however, landslide aid funds promised by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could be withdrawn, the Daily Breeze reported. Despite the current reprieve, the city is still working to pump excess water out of the ground to help ease the strain below the surface. A recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that 44 percent of California and Nevada will be in some stage of drought this summer. Higher temperatures and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent in California. As a result, the state is facing a home insurance crisis with State Farm hiking its premiums and other companies, including Allstate and Farmers Direct limiting cover or stopping doing business entirely in the Golden State . Experts had warned that price hikes were inevitable as insurers faced massive payouts for deadly wildfires that severely damaged the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and thousands of other homes across Los Angeles County. State Farm says the latest round of price increases is necessary to stop the company going bust, especially in the wake of the fires which damaged its bottom line further. State Farm has so far received nearly 12,700 claims from wildfire victims, and has paid customers more than $3.5 billion, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
