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Walt Disney House Saved From Wrecking Ball, at Least Temporarily

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Thanks to a personal intervention by the city's director of planning

Earlier this week, it was reported that the century-old Craftsman bungalow in Los Feliz where Walt Disney and his brother Roy launched their animation studio may not be long for this world, with the new owner of the 1,458-square-foot cottage having requested both a demolition permit for the structure and a building permit to construct a two-story, 3,000-square-foot residence in its place.

Yesterday, however, the Kingswell Avenue residence got a reprieve from the city's Director of Planning, Vincent P. Bertoni, who initiated an Historic-Cultural Monument application for the house. Ken Bernstein, the City’s Office of Historic Resources manager, tells Curbed via email:

"Our department took this relatively unusual step to pursue a Director-initiated nomination, as is permitted under the Cultural Heritage Ordinance, given the potentially imminent threat to the house, the previous identification of the house in SurveyLA (our citywide historic resources survey) and the iconic status of Walt Disney within the history of Los Angeles and Southern California."

Under the Cultural Heritage Ordinance, the HCM application immediately triggers a temporary stay on demolition while the matter is under consideration by the Cultural Heritage Commission and City Council. The Cultural Heritage Commission must consider the nomination within 75 days.