Ted Lieu to propose bill to give Wayfarers Chapel a new home

Wayfarers Chapel is in need of a new home in Rancho Palos Verdes.

And in the coming weeks, Rep. Ted Lieu will introduce a bill that would transfer land from the United States Coast Guard to Rancho Palos Verdes to provide a place to rebuild Wayfarers, after the National Historic Landmark was dismantled and put into storage following unprecedented land movement.

In written testimony to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 20, Lieu argued that transferring the land is an “essential step toward ensuring the Chapel can rise again and stand as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the community in the face of a natural disaster.”

Lieu said his pending legislation “would provide up to 10 years for the Federal government to convey all rights, title and interest of the Battery Barnes property to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes for the purpose of reconstructing Wayfarers Chapel for use as an educational and community gathering space.”

The testimony was submitted during a “Member Day” hearing, during which representatives share their priorities, which for Lieu is the South Bay.

“The City of Rancho Palos Verdes thanks Rep. Lieu for his advocacy and support for the proposal to rebuild Wayfarers Chapel at the Ken Dyda Civic Center as an educational and cultural site that will continue to bring together our community,” Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Paul Seo said in a statement. “While no commitments or agreements are in place, securing a land transfer is a critical step toward making this vision a reality.”

During the Tuesday, Jan. 20, RPV City Council meeting, City Manager Ara Mihranian said the Peninsula town was grateful for Lieu’s efforts and it was a “significant milestone” in moving forward with the property transfer.

“Sometimes these things take years,” Mihranian said, “and we’re working very aggressively to move this along.”

Wayfarers Chapel is an iconic structure on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, Wayfarers was a tourist attraction because of its glass-and-wood architecture and spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean — and was the site of countless weddings and filming sites as well.

Wayfarers, which opened in 1951, was named a National Historic Landmark in December 2023. But a few months following that designation, it closed because of land movement in the Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex that created havoc in Rancho Palos Verdes.

The land movement also damaged the chapel — causing it to be closed. It was carefully dismantled by experts and placed in safe storage, while officials looked for a new location to rebuild it.

Lieu and RPV officials “have all been instrumental in their efforts to help preserve Wayfarers Chapel’s legacy for all time as a beacon of our Peninsula community and ask the National Historic Landmark that it is,” Wayfarers officials said in a statement. “This level of leadership is momentous.”

One possible is Battery Barnes, part of a former U.S. Army Nike-Ajax launch site in the 1950s. The site was deactivated in 1974, but a year later, the federal government leased the Army barracks and other facilities to RPV. Through the 1979 Federal Lands to Parks Program, the city was able to acquire 60 acres of land.

But a 4-acre property at the Ken Dyda Civic Center, known as “Battery Barnes” — which was named after U.S. Army Col. Harry C. Barnes and is home to a 5,000 square-foot subterranean bunker — remains with the federal government, specifically the Coast Guard. That site, Lieu said in his testimony, is the “ideal fit” for Wayfarers.

“The Wayfarers Board has developed a vision to reconstruct the Chapel on the Battery Barnes property while serving as an educational and cultural site, community gathering space, and architectural destination,” Lieu wrote. “For this to happen, the federal land must be transferred to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes.”

The Wayfarers campus is “envisioned to include not only a rebuilt chapel and bell tower, but public restrooms, a museum, café, interpretive visitor center, public trails and open space, public parking, and educational native plant gardens,” Lieu added. “This solution would benefit the Chapel, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, and the Federal government by enabling Wayfarers to remain in its home community while honoring the site’s military legacy and continuing to unite and inspire.”