“The Lighthouse” will offer workspace, production facilities, career development, and artist studios in Venice’s iconic Windward Circle
The Venice Post Office Building at 1601 Main St., an 85-year-old historic art deco property at Venice Beach’s iconic Windward Circle, is transforming into a new “creative playground”.
Dubbed The Lighthouse, the shared workspace campus concept aims to be a place where artists of various kinds can foster their productions and support one another. Complete with a 50-person theater, production facilities, event space, artist studios, a coffee shop, and an outdoor garden, the campus will also offer career development courses, business coaching and workshops.
“We believe creativity is sparked by the coming together of original minds and bold spirits. Your muses, competitors and co-conspirators; those who challenge you to learn more and imagine bigger.” as the company’s ‘manifesto’ states on its website. “Inspired by those rare, hidden coffee shops, pioneering art schools, silicon valley garages and magical recording studios that were the fertile ground for the great cultural movements and tech revolutions. We built a campus where all the tools, support, and inspiration exist under one roof.”
The Venice campus is set to open in December and is accepting applications. A second Lighthouse location in Brooklyn, New York, situated one block from the East River in the heart of Greenpoint, is slated for opening by April of next year, per the company’s website.
This isn’t the first attempt to turn the two-story, 23,690 square ft. structure into a hub for artistic ventures. In 2012, Hollywood producer Joel Silver purchased the property with plans to convert it into a new headquarters for his film production company Silver Pictures. But those plans never came to fruition.
Just before Silver exited Silver Pictures, and after years of minimum construction activity as the building sat covered in graffiti, London-based real estate investment firm Allied Commercial Exporters purchased the building in 2019 for $22 million (3x what Silver doled out for it, according to Hollywood Reporter). Plans were filed with the city that year to convert the building into an office, according to The Real Deal.
The Louis Simon-designed post office was one of many built as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Completed in 1939, the Mediterranean Revival-style property was also one of about 800 USPS buildings adorned with an interior mural; a federally funded arts initiative which counteracted the Great Depression with bolstered morale and job creation, according to the L.A. Conservancy.
Situated within the lobby is the “Story of Venice” mural by modernist artist Edward Biberman that pays homage to the early days of the beachside community. At the center of the mural is city founder Abbot Kinney, surrounded by the canals, a wooden roller coaster, oil rigs, and a bustle of jovial activity once regularly drawn by the Venice Pier.
City Councilwoman Traci Park stated in an announcement that the building’s original 1930s lobby will be preserved as part of the revitalization, while recent photos of the inside posted by the local official showed Biberman’s mural in the background.
One-to-three person office spaces are available for $5K-$7.5K/month, while individuals can reserve flexible access for $5,750/year. More information can be found at https://www.thelighthouse.com/.
