Saving an Architectural Masterpiece: The Watts Towers Case

The Watts Towers are a universally acclaimed artistic and cultural masterpiece constructed by hand over a 33-year period by an immigrant artist.

By 1979, the City had failed to maintain the Towers for years, and they began to deteriorate. The State provided funds to the City for needed repairs and restoration, but the City's Public Works Department hired an unlicensed contractor without art restoration skills.

Workers cut and dropped sizable pieces of the sculpture, permitted damaging fluids to drip randomly about, and failed to follow professionally prescribed restoration techniques.

In 1979, CLIPI obtained an injunction against further city-funded "savage restoration" activities and ordered the City to return the remaining funds to the state so that it could undertake the needed repairs. When the City appealed, CLIPI obtained a 7-0 California Supreme Court ruling affirming the trial court’s orders.

Subsequently, an LA Times investigation revealed – and CLIPI’s discovery confirmed – that the City's unlicensed contractor had paid $10,000 under the table to the then-President of the City Board of Public Works in connection with his contract approvals.

After the Board President resigned in disgrace, the litigation settled. The State agreed to use an additional $2 million fund, established jointly by the City and the State, to complete the restoration according to stringent preservation standards prescribed by Getty Museum preservationists.

With the completion of the restoration, the Towers were reopened to the public. The Towers are now considered an iconic representation of Los Angeles and its immigrant heritage.