Pasadena, CA --- Here's the Ambassador campus near Old Town Pasadena. It appears that the Auditorium will be saved, but unfortunately not the most unique Fine Arts and Science buildings that are sometimes referred to as the 'honeycomb' buildings. Building architecture like this is becoming quite rare. Many thanks to Adriene Biondo for info.

Ambassador College Auditorium
Pasadena, CA
Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo

Just outside Old Pasadena, the former Ambassador College campus offered a setting worth a look even without a reason to attend class. Landscaped grounds, older residences, and modern buildings came together in an unusually polished corner of the city. Among the standouts were the Fine Arts and Science buildings, whose patterned concrete exteriors earned them the familiar “honeycomb” nickname.

Founded in 1947 by Herbert W. Armstrong, the college expanded into a campus with a distinctive mixture of architectural periods. Rather than one continuous row of classroom blocks, visitors found gardens and buildings that offered changing views along the way. There was plenty here to keep an architecture enthusiast wandering a little longer than planned.

This a beautiful and pristine campus that is a welcome respite from nearby Colorado Boulevard. It will be a real shame to see a treasure such as this disappear.

Auditorium Profile View
Pasadena, CA
Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo

The honeycomb buildings supplied some of the most memorable scenery. Their repeating geometric screens created patterns of light and shadow across the exteriors, giving even a straight-on photograph plenty to study. A classroom building didn’t have to be plain, and these two certainly took advantage of that opportunity.

Ambassador Auditorium joined the campus in 1974. Known as the “Carnegie Hall of the West,” it brought concert audiences into this carefully maintained setting. An evening’s entertainment began with the approach to the hall, before anyone took a seat or the orchestra played a note.

Auditorium Interior
Pasadena, CA
Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo

The film industry noticed the campus, too. In A Single Man, released in 2009, Colin Firth’s character teaches in surroundings that included the Fine Arts Building. The architecture helped supply the film’s period atmosphere. These days, those scenes also offer a moving-picture record of something that can no longer be visited.

As redevelopment plans advanced, preservationists sought to save the distinctive modern buildings. The auditorium found a future, but the honeycomb structures were not as fortunate. It was a familiar outcome for admirers of mid-century architecture: the photographs remained while the buildings disappeared.

UPDATE : In 2005, the Ambassador Auditorium was sold to Harvest Rock Church and another portion of the campus was sold to Maranatha High School. Meanwhile, the Pasadena City Council approved converting the rest of the campus into a mixed-use development in 2006. According to the June 11, 2008 edition of the Los Angeles Times, the develoopment project called Ambassador West was foreclosed in June 2008. 11-08

UPDATE: The Fine Arts and Science buildings were demolished in 2013 as portions of the former campus gave way to residential development. Ambassador Auditorium survives as a venue for performances and events. A welcome piece of the old campus remains, though the honeycomb buildings and their changing patterns of sunlight are now sights to revisit through photographs and film. 10-26

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