John Drescher was one of Santa Monica’s wisest, most creative and most generous residents.

He gave Santa Monica College its  elegant planetarium, and he rented    studios and gallery space in a patchwork assemblage  of low-slung  buildings to artists, film editors,  photographers  and at least one designer of hats. The rents were very low Drescher was far more interested in art than in commerce.

Located in the so-called industrial  area on several acres between Nebraska Avenue and Olympic Boulevard,  Drescherville was one of Santa Monica’s authentic treasures – a gathering of  talented artists, boho to the bone, iconoclastic.

Some years ago, Dresher offered to decd it to Santa Monica. Then-City  Manager John Jalilli rejected the offer, saying the soil might be toxic.

Drescher then deeded the property to Pepperdine, which subsequently sold it to a developer for $15 million.

The artists and galleries are all gone. Most  were priced out of  Santa Monica.

We were reminded of that sad, ludicrous sequence Tuesday night when five members of the City Council rejected the Landmarks Commission’s designation of the modernist  Sci Arc building as a landmark and disregarded the staff’s  recommendation that a developers’

appeal of the landmark designation

be denied.

The building, which is just east of the old Dreescherville site, is  historically. architecturally and culturally significant. It’s also unique, distinctive and useful. Now, thanks to the Council  majority, it’s doomed. They all babbled on, but ultimately they  condemned this irreplaceable building  because they could, which has happened all too often recently.

Council members Kevin McKeown and Bobby Shriver voted to deny the appeal and save the building. . ­