- City:
- Burbank, CA
- Site Type:
- City and Town Halls, Civic Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Completed:
- 1943
- Designers:
- George Lutzi, William Allen
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Unknown
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Works Projects Administration (WPA) funded the construction of City Hall in Burbank, CA. Completed in 1943, the Moderne-style, reinforced concrete building was designed by architects William Allen and George Lutzi.
“Outside, ornate sculpted panels depicting themes of peace, social order and technological progress soften the utilitarian concrete walls of two-story wings flanking a tower. Brass handrailings draw visitors up the steps and into an airy rotunda, brightly illuminated through a cast-concrete grill that forms a decorative facade for the tower. […] Inside, sound bounces readily across the marble floors and walls, but visitors talk and tread softly, as if in a museum. A wing-adorned mosaic announcing ‘City of Burbank’ sprawls underfoot. A grand staircase, inlaid with classic Art Deco medallions and fluted sunbursts, sweeps upward to the elegantly wood-paneled second floor” (Thermos, 2005).
Note: The Works Progress Administration was renamed the Works Projects Administration in 1939.
Source notes
Wendy Thermos, "60-Plus Years Later, Burbank City Hall in Spit-Shine Condition," Los Angeles Times, Jan. 6, 2005 (accessed Mar. 21, 2023).
Site originally submitted by Shaina Potts on August 3, 2008.
Additional contributions by Natalie McDonald.
Site Details
| Total Cost |
|---|
| $409,000 |
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