On September 16, 2022, Debra Gerod, FAIA, LEED AP and Devon Barnes, AIA, LEED AP of Gruen Associates were presented with the 2022 Rose Award for Tower Theatre at the 40th Annual Roses & Lemon Awards Breakfast honoring the best people and places in downtown Los Angeles.
The latest collaboration between Foster + Partners (Design Architect) and Gruen Associates (Executive Architect), Tower Theatre received recognition from the Downtown Breakfast Club, comprised of community leaders and Downtown LA stakeholders who meet to learn and discuss the issues of Los Angeles throughout the year.
With an annual program of events culminating in the spring, the Downtown Breakfast Club held its Awards Breakfast in the Crystal Ballroom of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, after a two-year hiatus. Three adaptive re-use projects were recognized for coming to fruition for the betterment of Downtown LA, despite the Pandemic. One project, stalled since 2019, received the Lemon Award… a sour lemon among roses!
Tower Theatre celebrates the unique restoration of the historic 1927 theater into a new gathering, learning and exploring space. Among the theater are the Downtown L.A. Proper Hotel in the historic 1920’s building and the Herald Examiner Building, a 1914 landmark. All developments received the Rose Award in the “They Rose Above” category and further the revitalization of Broadway and the Historic Core.