A Concerning Update on 1816 N. Wilton Place (RIP), Emptied in 2008
You may already know about 1744 and 1750 North Wilton Place, abandoned and invaded by destructive squatters. 1744, a Craftsman duplex built in 1911, had to be knocked down by LAFD after a fire this spring.
1816 is owned by the city, which promised to restore it in 2017. The house was to have been a childcare center. Instead, it was listed as a sketchy-looking location available to book on FilmLA. The listing was removed, but that doesn’t change the fact that the city broke yet another promise.
The house could have been restored or moved to a burn area or to one of the many empty lots around the city. But nooooo, it caught on fire eighteen months ago. Now the city is seeking a private developer to redevelop the lot. Which I have concerns about, since it’s well known that many developers do not play fairly in LA (something in which the city’s leadership is too often implicated).
Those lots can, and should, be put to good use instead of attracting blight and trash.
Leaving a city-owned house empty for 17 years and letting it go to waste, however, is something that should never happen - and I would sure like to know why the city chose to leave 1816 empty for so long instead of putting it on the market and selling it to any of the many would-be home buyers who love useful older buildings and don’t mind putting in the work to restore them.
To read more about the city’s Small Lots, Big Impact initiative, visit The Real Deal.
The city’s 12 test cases are listed here. I will be watching them VERY closely.