Historic Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus. Photo by Thomas McDonell.
Request for Interest: Historic Southwest Museum Campus and the Casa de Adobe
Please note: The deadline for this Request for Interest has passed. We are currently having conversations with respondents and other potential partners, and look forward to sharing more about our progress and engaging the community to inform both the project and the partners.
The Autry, with the active participation of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Trust’s community-based project Steering Committee, seeks organizations to propose innovative and financially sustainable concepts for the revitalization and/or creative reuse of the Southwest Museum (SWM) campus and the Casa de Adobe through a Request for Interest (RFI).
The SWM site’s prominent twelve-acre hillside location features breathtaking views of the L.A. skyline and the San Gabriel Mountains, along with stunning architectural flourishes, including a landmark main building, three-story and seven-story towers, and a dramatic tunnel entrance. One of L.A.’s few properties to have a Metro Gold Line stop named after it, the site is a brief walk from the Southwest Museum Station and fewer than five miles from Downtown L.A.
On nearby Figueroa Street, the Casa de Adobe is a 1917 replica of a nineteenth-century Spanish California rancho. The Casa became part of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian in 1925 and was part of a 2003 merger with the Autry.
The Autry owns the SWM site and the Casa de Adobe through a 2003 merger between the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and leadership of the (then) Autry Western Heritage Museum. Following the merger, the Autry embarked on a comprehensive conservation program to save and protect the SWM’s important collections and identify a viable future for the historic site. This decade-long effort required significant investment of funds and staff to preserve the extensive collections—a critical priority—as well as maintain the aging buildings.
Potential owners/operator(s) will need to demonstrate their qualifications, management and financial capacity, and the community benefits of their ideas. Successful concepts will likely include a combination of uses, including public/educational programming and revenue-generating activities. As part of the site’s future, the Autry is interested in partnering with new owner/operator(s) on programming that is inspired by and draws on the content of the historic Southwest Museum collections.
For comprehensive information, please see the Request for Interest (RFI) and the project Appendix.
See the FAQ page for frequently asked questions about the sites.
Please send other questions or comments to SouthwestRFI@theAutry.org
Press/Media Inquiries
Read the press release here.
Media Inquiries, please e-mail: communications@theautry.org
Present Day Images (Click image for details)

View from Caracol Tower on the Historic Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus. Photo Courtesy of the Autry.

Tunnel entrance at the Historic Southwest Museum Mt. Washington Campus. Photo courtesy of the Autry.
Historic Images (Click image for details)

A cow in a pasture below the Southwest Museum, January 28, 1916, gelatin silver print. Photographer: Charles Puck. Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West; S1.604.

M. R. Harrington[left] and S. M. Wheeler[right] with the museum truck at the Southwest Museum, preparing to leave on the expedition to Borax Lake, 1930–1940, gelatin silver print. Unidentified photographer. Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West; P.20477.

Photograph of the Casa de Adobe and Southwest Museum from Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California, mid-1900s. Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West; S5.50.

Photograph of the Casa de Adobe and Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California, mid-1900s. Gift of Elizabeth Mason. Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West; S5.58.

Photograph of the Casa de Adobe and Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California, March 23, 1957. Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West; S5.60.
Video
Appendix
Please see below for links and PDFs offering additional background information about the historic Southwest Museum site and Casa de Adobe. This page will continue to be updated and expanded during the RFI period.
Autry Background
Opportunities for Partnerships with the Autry (PDF)
Charles Lummis: Reimagining the American West (KCET-Autry Documentary)
Resources Center of the Autry
Autry Collections
Property Information, Studies, and Reports
National Treasure Designation and FAQs (2019; PDF)
Estimated Rehabilitation and Restoration Costs (added 4/22/2019; PDF)
Site Maps (added 4/5/2019; PDF)
Southwest Museum Campus
Rehabilitation Study Phase 1 Planning (Levin & Associates, 2006; PDF)
Update & Report (Gruen Associates, 2013; PDF)
Structural and Seismic Engineering Peer Review Memo (Krakower Associates, 2019; PDF)
Casa de Adobe
Feasibility Study (Historic Resource Group, 2018; PDF)
Update & Report (Gruen Associates, 2013; PDF)
Historic Structures Report - Draft (Heritage Architecture & Planning, 2006; PDF)
Previous Community Plans
Southwest Museum: A Use Expansion Plan (Friends of the Southwest Museum, 2007; PDF)
Southwest Museum Rehabilitation: Conceptual Design (PLUM architects/Louisa Van Leer Design; PDF)
Neighborhood, Market, and Demographic Information
Market and Demographic Research (M+RE, 2019; PDF)
Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council
Highland Park Heritage Trust
Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council
Los Angeles Council District 1
Mt. Washington Homeowners Alliance
NELA art
Public Opinion
Southwest Museum Site Stakeholder Interview Summary Report (National Trust, 2015; PDF)
Southwest Museum Site Online Survey and Results (National Trust, 2015)
Historic Designation
Southwest Museum Nomination in National Register of Historic Places (1984) and Amendment for Poole Wing (2007; PDF)
Southwest Museum Historic-Cultural Monument Application (PDF)
Casa de Adobe Historic-Cultural Monument Application (PDF)
Highland Park Garvanza Historic Preservation Overlay Zone
Preservation and Other Incentive Programs
Federal Historic Tax Credits
Federal Historic Tax Credit Syndication
Mills Act Historical Property Contract Program
Preservation Easement (LA Conservancy)
Measure A
Proposition 68
Codes and Compliance
Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation
California State Historic Building Code
California Environmental Quality Act
Additional studies and reports will be added after 3/26. Additions will be highlighted for your quick reference.