Meet the Nonprofit Chronicling L.A.’s Endangered Buildings—One Instagram Post at a Time

Save Iconic Architecture co-founders Jaime Rummerfield and Ron Woodson. Image Courtesy SIA

“We want to be stewards of carrying the California spirit forward into the 21st-century.”

As California grapples with its most devastating fire season yet, the tolls are adding up: to date, more than 16,000 structures have been destroyed, 28 lives have been lost, and countless architectural treasures are hanging in the balance. Among the destroyed structures are Will Rogers’ historic ranch and the beloved Theatre Palisades. Amid this destruction, one organization is seeking to chronicle what’s been lost in an effort to build a new.

Save Iconic Architecture (SIA), co-founded by interior designers Jaime Rummerfield and Ron Woodson, has taken on the role of tracking the status of the region’s architectural gems. It’s evolved from a grassroots effort into a full-fledged 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. With advisory and board members like Peter Gurski, an Emmy Award-winning set decorator, and interior designer Jake Arnold, SIA has assembled a team of industry leaders committed to architectural preservation.

Before founding SIA in 2017, Rummerfield and Woodson spent two decades running a residential design firm, working with Hollywood elite whose homes embodied California glamour. It was during these years that they witnessed the systematic destruction of historically-significant properties.

“When you’re looking at a Paul [Revere] Williams building and [you hear that its owners are saying] ‘We’re just gonna tear it down because it’s too small’ — that careless disregard many times over—I was like ‘God, we got to do something,’” Rummerfield tells us.

The organization, born from the duo’s successful battle to preserve Richard Neutra’s Chuey House, has been fighting  to protect Los Angeles’ architectural heritage from the relentless march of development. As Rummerfield tells us, “I don’t think people realize how crazy this is, just how rapid the demolition is in Los Angeles. And then you have city officials and a government that doesn’t support preservation very well at all.”

The city’s architectural heritage includes heavy hitters of design—Wallace Neff, John Elgin Wolf, Robert Farquhar, and Williams—the first Black member of the American Institute of Architects—to name a few. Yet even homes designed by these legends aren’t automatically protected. “You would think Paul Williams would be protected just automatically, but his buildings are not,” Rummerfield says. “Unless the owner of someone from the community submits it for a landmark status, it most likely does not have it.”

They’ve turned to a simple but powerful method to amplify their message: Instagram. With more than 28,000 followers, SIA’s feed is a real-time record of California’s architectural heritage as it faces risks. The posts celebrate narrow escapes—like the Eames House’s survival of the Palisades fire—and mourn losses, such as Eric Own Moss’s pioneering deconstructivist building,  708 House.

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SIA are crucial watchdogs in L.A.’s preservation community. Its network of whistleblowers alerts them to potential threats, allowing them to intervene before demolition permits are issued. Recently, they witnessed a developer illegally tearing the facade off a significant Williams house—formerly home to Frank Sinatra and David Niven—to disqualify it from protection.

Now, they face an even more formidable adversary: nature itself. The recent California fires have pushed their mission into new territory. “I’ve been in a lot of meetings from City Council to architectural groups and neighborhood groups between the Palisades and Altadena, and the hardest thing is just the reality of rebuilding,” Rummerfield says.

Ash and debris cover the ground of a landscape in California. Image courtesy: Bloomberg Creative//Getty Images

The scale of devastation and daunting reality of moving toxic building materials and groundwork has prompted SIA to launch an initiative called the New California Classics, which aims to rebuild while honoring the architectural legacy of affected areas. “We want to be stewards of carrying the California spirit forward into the 21st century,” Rummerfield says.

SIA’s vision includes partnerships with innovative architects and builders who specialize in prefab homes and fireproofing techniques while maintaining high design standards. “It’s almost like the Wild West right now,” Rummerfield tells us, “but there’s also an opportunity for completely new building strategies, materials, efforts, and sustainability.”

The challenge ahead is immense, but so is the opportunity to redefine what California architecture can be.

VIA ELLE DECOR