LACMA is beloved. Its design never was.

Last month, on the campus’s 55th anniversary, cranes began to knock down the Pereira-designed pavilions, piece by piece, to make way for architectural superstar Peter Zumthor’s curvy new museum building. The demolition signifies the end of an era for a museum that promised a new chapter of Los Angeles as a cultural mecca, and invited controversy every step of the way.