RENOVATING LANDMARK TEMPLE OWNERS SEEKING NEW USE FOR THEIR ARCHITECTURAL GEM.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

GLENDALE - When Frank De Pietro and his brother Dennis bought the historic Masonic Temple on South Brand Boulevard in the early 1980s, there was little support for their plans to preserve it, they said.

``The first time we met with the Redevelopment Agency, the director at the time said, 'Why do you want to keep that building? It's a rathole and it should be demolished,''' Frank De Pietro said.

But the nine-story architectural gem built in 1929 with art deco and Moorish touches spoke to the brothers, an architect and an engineer by profession.

``We've been confident that if we could wait for the right ingredients and the right time, we could build something that people would come to, and that time is rapidly approaching,'' said Frank De Pietro, the architect of the pair.

The temple's current tenant, the theater company A Noise Within, is raising money to build a new home a few blocks away, with hopes to open at the new venue in spring 2007.

About the same time, the $264 million Americana at Brand outdoor mall will open on 15.5 acres directly across the street from the temple.

The brothers' plans call for converting the large open spaces that decades ago served as meeting halls for the Masons into office lofts or housing, with possible retail or service businesses on the ground floor. The hope is to build similar mixed-use buildings on property the brothers own on either side of the temple.

The brothers hope to present proposals to the Redevelopment Agency by May, De Pietro said.

Arlene Vidor, president of the Glendale Historical Society, said she wants the city to get behind the renovation.

``This type of character building is so beautiful, it adds so much to the architectural streetscape, and the city should do everything they can to help the owners adaptively reuse the building in a very creative way,'' she said.

``We have an outdoor mall adjacent to an indoor mall and we're becoming the mall capital in Southern California, so let's do everything we can to preserve our architectural legacy.''

There are obstacles, however - expensive ones.

While structurally sound, much of the building's interior needs to be replaced - at a cost of about $3.5 million - including electricity and plumbing. And cosmetic improvements, like fixing cracked walls, must be made.

``This is the kind of project where you only get one shot at it because it involves a lot of infrastructure,'' De Pietro said.

The temple, which sits adjacent to the Central Library, the senior recreation center and a public park, also lacks parking spaces. Building a parking structure or underground parking area would be very costly, the owners said.

Because of those unresolved issues, plans for the renovation are meeting some wariness at City Hall.

``It's a problem property,'' said Mayor Bob Yousefian. ``In the last 15 years, the brothers came a couple of times with schemes that haven't worked.

``And that building has a whole gamut of problems plaguing it. Granted it's a nice-looking building from the outside and inside there are interesting features, but the reality is whoever ends up owning this property is going to spend an awful lot money to try to make this building reusable.''

Naush Boghossian, [phone]

naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com

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(1 -- 2) Above, co-owner Frank De Pietro, an architect, sits in an old meeting room in the historic Masonic Temple in Glendale on South Brand Boulevard, below.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer