Allied Commercial Converts Roosevelt New Deal Office Into Art Campus

Allied Commercial has converted and restored an 85-year-old post office in Venice, California, into a 23,690-square-foot creative campus for media, events and seminars designed to foster artistic growth.

The site at 1601 Main St. is now the headquarters of the Lighthouse Creative Group, which has a versatile event space with dedicated artist studios.

The property offers a collaborative workspace for creatives to meet and exchange ideas, as well as production offices and facilities. Additional features include a mixed-use theater, recording studio, podcast suites, a coffee shop, an outdoor garden, and more, all of which aim to promote creativity and collaboration.

Allied Commercial’s Alexander Dellal led a team that restored the Louis Simon-designed building nearly a century ago to its original state by undergoing a comprehensive rehabilitation based on the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Properties, which transformed it into a commercial building while preserving its historic value.

The Mediterranean Revival-style structure was originally completed in 1939 as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.

On the exterior, the construction team JTM Construction Group replaced the building’s original stucco with a new finish. The parapet wall was updated with new waterproofing and sheet metal coping. It's missing handrails, attic grills, downspouts, leader heads, while gutters were recreated and reinstalled.

The front door was recreated using historic photos, matching the original design. The original post office sign letters were preserved and contributed to the creation of the new Lighthouse signage.

On the interior, the lobby received significant work, including terrazzo floor repairs and marble wainscot installation to match the original, using historic photos as guidance. The marble was sourced from the quarry that originally supplied the building.

The original wood-frame bulletin board cases were restored and reinstalled. The ceiling and walls were painted, using new linear diffusers installed to complement the paint color.

The 1941 mural “Abbot Kinney and the Story of Venice,” painted by Edward Biberman, was reinstalled, a process guided by painting conservator Tatyana M. Thompson.