Seismic Safety for Order of the Elks

The MacArthur is a historic, 12-story building originally designed by renowned Art Deco architect Claud Beelman; it was built in 1924 as the Elks Lodge 99. The building originally was designed for the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (B.P.O.E), but as membership declined the building changed hands and for a time operated as a hotel, first known as the Park Plaza Hotel and later the MacArthur Hotel.

The Neo Gothic structure still retains vast ballrooms and banquet halls with original finishes despite decades of use as a nightclub. The building has dramatic ornamentation and classic proportions. It is most often used now as an event venue and backdrop for movie sets.

Holmes Structures designed the full seismic retrofit of The MacArthur to satisfy the Los Angeles Non-Ductile Concrete Ordinance; the retrofit is currently under construction. For the retrofit design, Holmes Structures utilized a Performance-Based Engineering approach to minimize impact on the many historic components of this building and take full capacity of the existing structure, including a 2003 partial retrofit.

The MacArthur is designated as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and is eligible to be listed on the national register.