When the Canyon Service Station in Santa Monica Canyon gained historic-cultural monument status last month, speculation immediately began. What was owner Chris Hoffman planning to do with the little station that occupies a small portion of the 17,000-sq.-ft. property on Entrada he bought for $2.1 million in May? Monument status dictates that the station building couldn’t be torn down or moved, and any restoration/rehabilitation would have to meet certain standards. Was Hoffman going to preserve it as a museum or bring it back into service? Within a few weeks, neighbor and architect Scott Prentice quelled all speculation with his plan for historic preservation and adaptive reuse of the station, which was unanimously approved by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board last Wednesday. Prentice lives next door at 521 Entrada. Hoffman, who lives directly behind the station, agreed to sell the portion of the lot occupied by the station (4,000 sq. ft.) to Prentice, who in turn will restore the historic treasure as closely as possible to its original 1924 state. The station will become the new home for Prentice’s three-person architecture practice, and he will also build a 300-ft. office behind the station for additional office space, plus a 6-ft. by 30-ft. lap pool for his family’s use. Because Prentice shares an easement with the station property, he was able to buy just a small portion of the land as an add-on to his own property with a simple lot line adjustment. Hoffman will remove the underground fuel tanks and verify the soil safety as part of the deal. ‘It all started four weeks ago when my assistant Will Zemba and I were on our way to the AIA convention and we read that the station had been granted historic designation,’ Prentice told the Palisadian-Post. ‘I have lived next door for four years and have heard about so many options, including [former station lessor] Brian Clark coming back to run the station. I never considered that we’d be the one.’ ‘There are codes in our favor,’ Prentice added. ‘We could take this over as my architect’s office, with a small addition (300 feet) that meets department standards.’ Prentice met with Hoffman, who was very supportive of the idea. ‘We talked about money, but he said, ‘I don’t want to make any money on this. I’m perfectly happy to sell it for what I paid for it.” Prentice paid $500,000 for the parcel, which he considers a ‘good deal.’ While Prentice and Hoffman are still debating who will pay for the clean-up, Prentice has benefited from having the original soil reports he requested when he bought his house in 2001. ‘We have three clean reports, including one from less than a year ago,’ he said. Originally from San Diego, Prentice received his architectural degree from Cal Poly Pomona, with additional study in Florence, Italy. His 10-year-old firm specializes in retail stores (he has designed a number of Canyon Beachwear showrooms all over California), post-production, restaurants and residences. The gas station reuse project is just the sort of project Prentice enjoys. ‘We try to find the beautiful solution,’ he says. Prentice’s plan has received the highest rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership and Environmental Design program. In layman’s language this means that he is taking a gas station and turning it into a structure that doesn’t involve pollutants. In addition, he is removing an expanse of concrete, which will be used to build the site wall. The annex structure and the swimming pool will be solar-heated. Prentice lives with his wife Glenda Rovello, a trained architect and production designer, and their boys Henry and Will, who attend Canyon Elementary. ‘We had all the neighbors over for a party and to show them the plans,’ Prentice said. ‘Every single person in our community had a part to save this. From litigants on one side like Ted Stollman [who was able to get the city’s conditional use permit overturned by the State Supreme Court] to preservationists like Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association’s Mike Deasy and George Wolfberg, who were trying to save the station. Nobody had a problem with this plan. They can’t believe it.’ Wolfberg had high praise for role played by the canyon association and Kevin Keller, City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski’s planning deputy, in saving the station. ‘Preservation of Canyon Service Station has been a core value of canyon residents for many years,’ Wolfberg told the Post. ‘Having Scott Prentice as the next-door neighbor of the station was serendipitous, and his plans will result in permanent protection of this historic treasure.’
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