Historic Building Renovation

IMEG provided structural engineering and design services for the renovation, seismic rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of the 45,000-sf historic Chapman Court building at Koreatown in Los Angeles.

Chapman Court, originally constructed in 1928, is a unique example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture with intricate Churrigueresque detailing, by a prominent Los Angeles architectural firm during the 1920s, Morgan, Walls & Clements. The iconic building, with its 34-ft tower and 20-ft high ceilings, flooded with natural light and skylights, was completely renovated, seismically rehabilitated, and transformed into a mix of restored spaces, including four enlarged ground-floor retail spaces and nine second-floor creative office spaces.

With an adaptation of the existing building, the revitalized floor and roof plans have been carefully designed to preserve the historic context, while maintaining the structural integrity of the building. Three new full height reinforced concrete shear walls were introduced, which utilized a deep foundation system comprised of concrete grade beams and cast-in-place piles. This retrofit strategy allows flexibility for the owner and future tenants since the existing interior wood partition walls are no longer relied upon as part of the lateral system.

New lateral elements provide support of the existing mezzanines, consisting of wood shear walls and concrete grade beams. At the roof, existing skylights have been retrofitted with tie-rod bracing in order to preserve the natural light, while adding a critical diaphragm tie at the roof.

One of the many historical elements that was preserved is the original barrel-vaulted ceiling of the arcade with its plaster and decorative stencil painting.