The Ebell of Los Angeles, a nonprofit organization founded in 1894 and dedicated to amplifying women’s creativity and voices, is thrilled to announce it has retained the architecture firm Frederick Fisher and Partners (FF&P) to develop and implement a plan to upgrade its historic 1927 Renaissance-style campus in the mid-Wilshire area. At a time when women were often excluded from cultural and civic venues, The Ebell’s purpose-built campus offered physical access, visibility, and agency through thoughtfully designed spaces for gathering, performance, and exhibition. The dynamic campus continues to serve the community as a space where the cultural diversity of Los Angeles converges, artistic disciplines intersect, and where we continue to create space for women’s voices, as we’ve done throughout our history.

Originally designed by legendary architect Sumner Hunt, the Ebell’s 94,000-square foot campus—which includes the iconic Wilshire Ebell Theatre, the nation’s oldest theatre built and continuously operated by women—will celebrate its Centennial in 2027. Spurred by City of Los Angeles Ordinance No. 183893, which requires owners of older concrete structures to assess and mitigate earthquake risk, The Ebell tapped FF&P to envision how the organization could best elevate its campus as a hub of dynamic learning, performance, culture, and belonging for its next hundred years, while thoughtfully honoring the site’s historic legacy.

FF&P, which has a longstanding passion for creating space and places related to the arts, education, and community at culturally significant sites, is particularly well suited to guide the next chapter of a campus whose architecture has long been central to advancing women’s visibility and creative expression in Los Angeles. The firm, which recently completed the design and implementation of the Natural History Museum of LA County expansion in Exposition Park, aims to embed flexibility and sustainability into Ebell campus operations and upgrade infrastructure and building systems to improve wayfinding and ADA compliance — all of which aims to bolster The Ebell as an anchor for women’s empowerment, contemporary voices, civic imagination, and community life in the heart of Los Angeles.