Architectural Commission chair Fran Cohen keeps the city’s buildings looking sharp
By Jacquelyn Ryan
BH Weekly: So what exactly do you do in the Architectural Commission?
Fran Cohen:The Architectural Commission reviews and provides recommendations and makes decisions about specifics of the architecture and development of commercial and multi-family buildings in the city of Beverly Hills. We basically work with the applicant and developer to apply for new buildings or renovations within the city.
The Architectural Commission looks at about 150 different projects each year so they really shape the city’s design fabric from signs to landscaping to remodels and entirely new buildings.
We are a seven member commission. When the applicant comes and presents their plan, they sometimes get seven different points of view. If there’s an alternative to the design, which might work well with the city, [we tell them.] So for example, an alternative for the door would be where the door is positioned or how the design works better in terms of façade. The commission does not have purview inside the building. It’s just the storefront and within 5 feet inside. We review that, so we can give alternatives as to how the store is positioned.
Explain how that works.
First, the applicant applies to the city for a change. For example, a minor ‘front of store’change on Rodeo Drive [would be] if they want to change the front façade. They apply for that and work with the planner within the city. The planner gives them the guidelines for the design and the codes for the city. They get an appointment and [the Architectural Commission] meets once a month in the city, every second Wednesday of the month. The applicant comes before us with the design and we make comments accordingly. On condi- tions, we approve them so they can either come back to the commission or go to the staff and finalize it.
What do you look for during your reviews?
Basically, to enforce city of Beverly Hills criteria in relation to construction and design. That is, the design should conform to the highest standards and contribute to the image of Beverly Hills and that it’s a place of beauty, spaciousness, balance and high quality within not only the local arena but the international [arena] as well.
The preferred building or structure is in harmony with its surroundings and it conforms to the standards and codes. We like to promote a unique blend of interaction, fixing an exceptional shopping experience and tourist pathways. Perhaps this is one of the biggest challenges that we face — to have the balance there. In addition, the commission tries to accommodate the applicant and approve the project in a timely manner and we always try to have clear communication and give viable alternatives.
How did you come into this line of work?
About three years ago, I saw an ad in the newspaper and thought this is exactly what I did in the past and it fit with my background and thought I could be a help if I volunteered myself.
My formal education and professional experience includes a cross or multidiscipline of business, architecture and real estate. I have two masters’degrees, a master’s of science in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s in business administrative from Purdue University. I have bachelor’s of arts in architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture. I have about 28 years of experience in architecture, design, urban planning, real estate, construction and management so I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to volunteer and get involved with the city.
My father is a civil engineer. He doesn’t practice anymore but that’s what I grew up with. I remember always seeing plans and trying to read the plans at 7 or 8 years old. It was very interesting to see how everything works and that’s probably why I decided to study architecture.
How did you come to Beverly Hills?
I was born in Iran and moved to Los Angeles in 1979. In the ‘80s, I moved to the East Coast to attend MIT. After Boston, I went to Israel for a while, then I moved to the Midwest, to Indiana.
My husband and I decided to look for a city that my family can grow and live for a long time to come. Beverly Hills, we decided was the place.
My sisters live in Beverly Hills and my parents just live a few blocks away in Los Angeles so that was one of the reason: I wanted my kids to grow up with family.
We moved here two weeks before 9/11. I’m not sure if we had waited that we could have ever moved. Because of 9/11, my family wouldn’t have separated. I moved with the children here and my husband stayed at Purdue until he retired from Purdue. So for a number of years I lived with the children here and until my husband could retire from Purdue and join us here. He has been retired for about three years now. It was very difficult for me and the children but now both my children go to dormitories so it’s just me and him now. It’s an adjustment. At the beginning, it’s hard but they tell me it gets easy and I’ll enjoy it.
Tell us about your family.
My son, David, is 21, or will be 21 in a couple months. He is a junior at UCLA and studying civil engineering. My husband, Menashi, is a civil engineer, who got his PhD from Stanford. He is a developer in Los Angeles. Also he is a professor emeritus from Purdue University. He taught for 28 years or so.
We met in California when I was a bachelor’s student. He was a professor at Northeastern [University] and I moved to Boston and we married there while I was a graduate student. It was 1984.
Then [my husband] got a job at Purdue University so we relocated. My son was born in Indiana in Lafayette. Purdue is in West Lafayette. West Lafayette and Lafayette are just so close to each other. My daughter was also born there. Her name is Sandra. She is a freshman at UC Berkeley and studying civil engineering as well.
Where did your children go to school?
My kids changed several schools before we moved to Beverly Hills. For a couple years, they went to the public schools in Beverly Hills, but they graduated from Harvard Westlake. My daughter went to Hawthorne and El Rodeo and my son went to Hawthorne and Beverly High. He just went to Beverly High for one year and then he transferred to Harvard-Westlake. My daughter went at ninth grade to Harvard-Westlake.
What other work do you do?
I worked in different occupations [in Indiana] then I opened a chain of retail stores in 1992.
It was interesting. I like interaction with people on a daily basis and I had stores in California and Indiana. We were selling electronic music-related items and cell phones, DVDs and video games. [The stores] were called CD Land Corp.
I still have one store in Indiana that I try to mange from here; it’s kind of hard to mange a retail store long distance.
I practice in the field of architectural construction and urban planning and I think the future is to work in construction of green buildings and that’s the field I’m interested to work in. I believe green buildings, besides the environmental and economical benefits, we get satisfaction by using or recycling the natural resources. So that’s the field which I’m interested in getting into eventually. I’d like to get back into the field of architecture and design. I help my husband and work with him at different design projects.
I give recommendations to people who approach me but I don’t have an office. My husband has one and the construction that he does when we do the projects together for an optimum design. He also is a general contractor so he fields the projects. It’s mostly commercial projects that we work with.
Do you have any hobbies?
I went high Ettefagh High School in Tehran, Iran. It was a private Jewish community school in Iran. I have a group of friends from high school, which we get together. After I moved here, I tried to find my friends from high school and we get together once or twice a week and we get together and get lunch or go to movies and do other things. That’s one of the things I look forward to every week.
I have my sisters are here and try to spend a lot of time with them and my parents, which are elderly. I try to attend to their needs and try to spend as much time as possible with them.
My parents came in the late ‘80s to Los Angeles, but at that time I was living in Indiana. And my sisters— in the ‘80s, they moved here. I moved to Boston in 1982.
What’s in the future?
I like to be more involved in architecture and more designs and open my own office. That’s what I’m hoping for.
I enjoy the Architectural Commission very much and I love the people I work with so I’ll definitely stay. It’s very gratifying to see the designs complete and know what’s going on in the city.
-Jacquelyn Ryan
(From the Beverly Hills Weekly, Issue 469, September 25-October 2, 2008, p10)