Neutra masterpiece still in the crosshairs

The effort continues to screw up one of Orange County's great buildings -- Richard Neutra's Mariner's Medical Arts Building (1963) in Newport Beach. Documents are now available on the city's website.

Architect John Linnert writes, "Yesterday, I received the official Notice of Preparation (NOP) for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) pertaining to ...the proposed abomination at Mariners Medical Arts. ...Please contribute any type of comments so as to let the City know your thoughts. Deadline is by May 25th, 2012."

"Public" means you an me, folks. Not just Newport residents and architectural historians.

Richard Neutra's son, architect Dion Neutra, has posted several petitions on his website which you're also invited to sign. He writes, "Last year I mounted an exhibition we called 'The Amazing Neutras in Orange County'. It opened in Claremont, was seen at Barnsdall in Hollywood, and closed at the Old Courthouse Gallery in Santa Ana. The hope was that a patron would emerge with the funds to buy out this developer and operate the facility as a non-profit, restoring it to its former glory. A partnership with a local museum was hoped for, so that at least this example of our work in Orange County might survive. To date no such savior has emerged. It would appear that we have scarcely a month to rescue this from this final step towards oblivion. Everyone realizes that this would only be the first of the incursions, ultimately to be followed by further demolition to make room for more multistory development."

I've found that no photos of this complex really do it justice. You need to walk around it, and even go into the offices to get the full effect. It captures the spirit of Modernism and of Newport Beach in the 1960s, and is one of the most attractive and relatable examples of Richard Neutra's work I've ever experienced. (Another was the Art Center at Orange Coast College, which was demolished years ago.) It has a very carefully thought out scale and sense of place which will be destroyed if they start remuddling the site and adding tall buildings.

Know anyone who wants to buy and preserve an architectural masterpiece?