The Bullock's Wilshire Building
As artistic supervisor for the restoration of the original Bullock's Wilshire, (once a famous department store during Hollywood's Golden Era) I was responsible for color matching over 300 colors of paint, glaze, and varnish. My faux-finish painting included all walls, furniture glazing, bronze leafing, faux-marble, copper patina, and mural restoration. The most challenging endeavor was recreating the reverse hand-painted glass ceiling in the Cactus Lounge.
You may view some of the historic restoration work I achieved for Bullock's Wilshire (now Southwestern Law University), under the stewardship of Seward Construction. Just click on each item. For more history about the Bullock's Wilshire Building, read more below.
Click here to see : Gallagrafix Faux-Finish Galleries
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Since 1997, a series of honors and awards have been showered on Southwestern for its restoration and adaptive reuse of the historic Bullocks Wilshire Building. These include:
With the opening of Disney's California Adventure in
February 2001, Southwestern has achieved a unique new distinction:
It's the only law school with a building replicated in a theme park.
Located in the art-deco-inspired Hollywood Pictures Back lot section
of the new park, the Bullocks Wilshire building joins other familiar
Los Angeles icons in celebrating the glamour of Tinsel Town.
In October of 2005, the Los Angeles Conservancy launched a program to showcase the history of Wilshire Boulevard through an educational initiative called Curating the City. This program, running the length of Wilshire Boulevard - from downtown to the ocean - featured the Bullocks Wilshire building as one of its many "exhibits."
Restoration Artist, Johnathon Gallagher at work, July, 2006.
The program included a one-day, self-guided architectural tour of
Wilshire Blvd., and was accompanied by a trilingual guidebook (in
English, Korean, and Spanish). The Bullocks Wilshire building was
one of at least six sites open for docent-led tours, representing
different eras, architects, and icons of the boulevard. Other
features of the program included a kid’s activity guidebook,
family-friendly activities, and online resources for teachers and
families to use the city as a fun learning environment; a permanent
website; a series of exciting events presented in conjunction
with local cultural, community, and educational organizations; and
bus "advertisements" that offered historical images and information
about several of the architectural gems along the Wilshire route,
similar to the labels accompanying objects in a museum.
The restoration of the historic building and the opening of the Law Library have been featured in print, radio, and television coverage, both locally and nationally, including three hour-long episodes of the Public Television program Visiting with Huell Howser. Howser's programs focused first on the closing of the store and Tea Room, then the restoration and adaptation of one-third of the building to accommodate the Law Library, and finally the reopening of the Tea Room to serve Southwestern students, faculty and visitors.
In addition to many articles in the Los Angeles Times, stories on the Library appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the New York Times (cover story of "The Living Arts" section), and local and legal newspapers around California. It was the cover feature in the July 1997 issue of Interiors magazine, and was also presented in the December 1997 Architectural Issue of Library Journal, and the April 1998 Facilities Showcase Issue of American Libraries, among other publications. Southwestern's efforts have also been recounted in the final chapter of of alumna Margaret Leslie Davis' book Bullocks Wilshire, published by Balcony Press, 1996. The building has also been featured in movies and commercials.