HCM-165 — designated 1976-10-20
Fire Station No. 27
1355 North Cahuenga Boulevard and 1333 Cole Place
stone-family or non-stone masonry construction per bariscale material classification — the envelope is the artifact, architectural-significance argument unambiguous regardless of per-axis rubric signals. override layer that catches cases the per-axis classifier would otherwise leave in insufficient_data or reassess due to data sparsity (e.g. hcm-80 palm court of the alexandria hotel: marble columns + dome, but wikipedia + walking-tour signals are weak because the venue is a private-event interior).
stone-family or masonry construction per material classifier — envelope is the artifact; the architectural-significance argument is unambiguous regardless of per-axis signals.
street view ↗ satellite ↗ big orange landmarks ↗ (bariscale, 2008) stone · limestone + brick (orchestrator-captured imagery is not building-aimed — use these for HITL verification)
Six-axis scores
- A. would-survive 5 probability the structure would survive market forces without HCM designation. low = needs protection.
- B. tourist currency 0 tourist and cultural currency — Wikipedia pageviews, walking-tour inclusion, public visitation evidence.
- C. subsidy efficiency 0 subsidy efficiency — Mills Act and federal HTC value vs preservation outcome. zero means no active subsidy.
- D. externality load 1 externality load — code complaints, CSR cases, 311 encampment/dumping/graffiti, vacancy duration.
- E. neighborhood health 7 neighborhood health — median household income, distress indicators, displacement risk.
- F. alternative-use value 7 alternative-use value — parcel acres, TOC tier, TPA eligibility, zoning capacity for higher use.
overall confidence: unknown
Site
- lat / lon
- 34.09573, -118.33009
- parcel acres
- 1.0193317818368017 (inferred)
- typology
- civic
- TPA / TOC
- yes — tier 3
- zoning capacity
- —
- nrhp listed
- no
- architect prominence
- —
Condition + subsidy
all "condition" fields below are proxies derived from LADBS permit history, 311 CSR cases, and code complaints. none of these directly measures occupancy. the vacancy line shows the proxy value and the specific rule that produced it; readers should treat "active" as "construction permits filed recently," not "people live or work here."
- vacancy proxy
- partial
- vacancy proxy basis
- single permit 5 to 10y old
- last permit
- 2021
- permits last 24mo
- 0
- code complaints 24mo
- 0
- CSR open cases
- 0
- Mills Act contract
- no — not in la OHR appendix a (2019 list of Mills Act properties)
- federal HTC
- no
- Wikipedia pageviews 12mo
- —
- walking-tour inclusion
- no
- median hhi (tract)
- $76,806
- assessed value
- —
Street view vision classification
claude vision analyzed 4 Google street view captures (n/e/s/w from the parcel coordinates) for visible distress indicators. this is an automated screening — false positives and negatives both happen, and "well_maintained" only means the visible facade is intact; internal structural condition is not assessable from street view.
- building visible
- partial
- building type
- civic
- overall condition
- well maintained
- other indicators
- none visible
- notes
- All four images are interior shots of the LAFD gift shop inside Fire Station No. 27, showing a well-maintained, actively operating retail space with firefighting memorabilia and merchandise; no exterior distress indicators are visible.
Contextual signals (GIS)
these are contextual proxies — signals derived from spatial context, not direct measurements of the property. they help infer hidden variables (contamination probability, structural risk) that public open-data does not measure directly. source: cal OEHHA CalEnviroScreen 4.0 (cumulative pollution burden by census tract).
- census tract
- 6037190802
- CalEnviroScreen overall percentile
- 91.5 (decile 10)
- cleanups percentile
- 83.1
- groundwater threats percentile
- 87.1
- hazardous waste percentile
- 73.1
- toxic release percentile
- 72.1
- lead exposure percentile
- 65.2
- EnviroStor cleanup sites nearby
- —
- in CGS liquefaction zone
- no
- type-1 contamination probability (fused)
- 0.61 — moderate
- type-2 structural-risk probability
- 0.20 — low
Narrative
history
fire station no. 27 is a civic structure within the los angeles fire department system, designated as hcm-165. the precise construction date, original architect, and commissioning details are not confirmed in available records; the station is believed to have been built in the early-to-mid twentieth century (approximately), consistent with a period of municipal infrastructure expansion across los angeles. fire stations of this era were typically designed through the city architect's office and served dual roles as functional emergency-response facilities and visible symbols of civic investment in residential neighborhoods. no specific major historical events — fires suppressed, disasters managed, or notable public incidents — have been documented in the fetched data set for this station. its designation as an hcm reflects a determination by the cultural heritage commission that the structure retains sufficient architectural or historical integrity to warrant recognition, though the absence of nrhp listing indicates it has not been elevated to federal significance.
architectural significance
without confirmed architect attribution or a resolved construction date, a precise stylistic classification is not possible at the data-confidence level available. los angeles fire stations from the 1920s through 1940s typically employed mission revival, spanish colonial revival, or streamline moderne vocabularies, often with decorative brickwork or tile detailing applied to otherwise utilitarian masonry volumes. comparable extant examples in los angeles include fire station no. 23 in silver lake and fire station no. 30 in exposition park, both of which demonstrate the civic formalism typical of municipal construction from that period. if hcm-165 follows that typological pattern, distinguishing features would likely include arched apparatus bay openings, a raised hose tower, and symmetrical facade composition. field verification is required to confirm these assumptions.
neighborhood context
the tract surrounding hcm-165 presents a moderately healthy economic profile. the median household income of $76,806 places the area above the los angeles county median, and a five-year population increase of 138 persons indicates modest but positive demographic retention — not a distressed or rapidly depopulating district. the 311 externality load in the immediate vicinity is effectively zero across measured categories (encampments, dumping, and graffiti each register 0), suggesting the parcel and its surroundings impose no measurable negative spillover on adjacent properties. transit proximity and toc tier are unconfirmed. taken together, the neighborhood context does not indicate acute pressure on this asset from either socioeconomic deterioration or displacement dynamics. | metric | value | |---|---| | census tract | 06037190802 | | median hhi | 76806 | | 5yr δ population | 138 | | 311 within 500ft (24mo) | 0 | | encampment 311 calls | 0 | | ladbs code complaints (24mo) | — | | last permit year | — |
subsidy and condition
| field | value | |---|---| | mills act | — | | federal htc | — | | vacancy status | — |
classification reasoning
axis a (survival without protection) scores 5 at medium confidence, reflecting genuine ambiguity. civic structures like active or recently decommissioned fire stations occupy an uncertain market position: if the building remains in active lafd use, it has inherent institutional protection regardless of hcm status; if it is surplus, its conversion prospects depend heavily on floor-plate size, apparatus bay configuration, and neighborhood demand — none of which are confirmed here. the score of 5 is defensible but should not be treated as stable without field verification of operational status. axis b scores 0 at unknown confidence, meaning no tourist or cultural draw has been documented — no google review volume, no wikipedia traffic, no walking-tour inclusion. this is not necessarily evidence of zero cultural value; civic infrastructure of this type is rarely measured through visitor-economy proxies, but the absence of any signal means no affirmative case for b can be made. axes c and d score 0 each: no mills act contract, no federal htc, no code complaints, and no 311-sourced externalities are on record. a c score of 0 on the subsidy-efficiency axis is ambiguous — it could mean the building receives no public subsidy (neutral or positive), or that subsidy data was not retrieved. axis e scores 7 at high confidence, reflecting the above-median hhi and positive population trajectory; the neighborhood is not in distress. axis f scores 0 at unknown confidence because parcel acreage, zoning capacity, and toc tier are all null — no alternative-use calculation is possible. the overall confidence rating is 'unknown,' driven by null values on axes b, c, and f and the absence of key descriptive data (architect, construction date, operational status, parcel size). under the candidate-flag conditions, this building does not qualify: a does not meet the ≤4 threshold (it scores 5), e does not meet the ≤5 threshold (it scores 7), and f does not meet the ≥6 threshold (it scores 0 due to data absence). the reassess flag is therefore the correct output — not because the building is affirmatively problematic, but because the data state is too sparse to support any confident terminal classification. the most critical unknowns are operational status (active lafd use vs. surplus), parcel dimensions and zoning envelope, and whether any subsidy instruments are in place.
sources
- la311: https://data.lacity.org/resource/h65r-yf5i.json?$where=within_circle(location%2c%2034.09572835567828%2c%20-118.33008648483451%2c%20152)%20and%20createddate%20%3e%20'2024-05-10'&$limit=1000 --- _generated by hcm-1200 orchestrator on 2026-05-10t23:14:19.826z._