Designed in 1879, this historic Los Angeles Roman Catholic Cathedral was decommissioned by the Archdiocese in 1994 and, in response to the Los Angeles Conservancy’s desire to preserve the building, redesigned by Moule & Polyzoides as a museum of Latino culture. The program includes a school, conference facilities, administrative offices, a small café and art galleries. The museum is configured around four courtyards, each symbolizing a period in the site’s rich history: The water and cornfield courtyards represent Native American agriculture, the orange tree entry courtyard and its tower reference Andalusian cloisters, and the northern grass courtyard references the early American green. The existing buildings and three new gallery wings restore an important downtown block and assist in the revitalization of Los Angeles’s city center.