Iconic US Firestone store may get historic designation

There is a serious effort afoot to have the iconic “Firestone Tire Building” in Los Angeles designated as a Historic-Cultural Monument, Tire Review reports. According to a story on la.curbed.com, the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles petitioned the Los Angeles City Council's Planning and Land Use Management committee, which quickly passed a motion approving the designation. The proposal now must go before the entire city council.

Still an active and working tyre and service store – part of Bridgestone’s America’s company-owned Firestone Complete Auto Care system – the Streamline Moderne Firestone Tire Building (as it is formally known) was constructed on La Brea Avenue in the city in 1937.

According to the website, “little is known about RE Ward, the structural engineer for the construction of the building. The documents even speculate that the design work was done by an unacknowledged in-house architect at Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.

“The building’s most dramatic element is the cantilevered overhang,” the website noted, “but it also has a unique continuous elevation, helped by the curved northwest corner of the otherwise square layout. The building’s use of porcelain-covered steel was common among commercial buildings of the time.”