A developer plans to raze the 1948 building for a four-story condo complex. (Save Carlton Manor)

Plans to demolish a 57-year-old apartment building in West Hollywood may be put on hold as a former resident steps up his opposition to a new condo project. Last month, Los Angeles resident William Neish filed suit against the City of West Hollywood in the California Superior Court for avoiding an environmental-impact study before the proposed demolition of his former home.

Residents of Carlton Manor were evicted last year after a developer, Los Angeles-based 1248 North Laurel Investors LLC, bought the 10-unit complex, intending to replace it with a four-story condominium complex.

The two-story Colonial revival building, designed by Arthur Wellesley Hawes, was built in 1948, and marks a transition from courtyard apartments to the garden apartments that are a signature of West Hollywood.

Since the building does not appear on the last historic survey conducted by the city in 1987, however, the city council contends that it is exempt from a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) statute requiring an environmental impact study of a site of historical or cultural significance before demolition permits can be issued. Structures do not have to be on a historic register or survey to meet this requirement if "fair argument" of their value is presented, according to the act. Before filing his lawsuit, Neish appealed the city's exemption by presenting expert opinions about Carlton Manor's architectural significance at city council meetings and nominating it as a local cultural resource.

"It's not only buildings on a survey that need to go through the CEQA process," says Neish, a resident of the apartments for 10 years. "You walk down either side of Laurel Avenue and you know you are in front of a special building."

As developers target other historic properties in the area, preservationists and local groups are criticizing the city for being too pro-development. "West Hollywood is growing up and out, and the beautiful charming part is going away," says Allegra Allison, a member of the West Hollywood Neighborhood Alliance who was recently evicted from Tara, another historic property slated for development. She worries that development could affect affordable housing in the neighborhood, especially for senior citizens. "A lot of our residents are seniors. They love these old buildings."

Neish hopes his lawsuit will encourage West Hollywood to think about development issues. "It's about a particular building," Neish says, "But it's also about policies. So much is triggered by the act of demolishing an older building. It affects senior citizens, affordable housing. It affects the average citizen's connection to city government."

City officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.

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