Fires that spread through the Los Angeles suburbs of Palisades, Altadana, and Sylmar last week burned through more than 16,000ha of land, killing at least 24 people and displacing hundreds of families.Conservationist group the Los Angeles Conservancy said on Sunday (12 January) that more than 12,000 structures had been damaged or destroyed in the fires with further buildings threatened.The group said it understood that at least 30 historically significant structures some of architectural importance had been lost to the fires, which firefighters are still tackling.AdvertisementBuildings believed to have been destroyed include 19th-century, Brutalist and mid-20th-century homes.Among them is the Benedict and Nancy Freedman House in Palisades, a Modernist home completed in 1948, designed by Austrian-American architect Richard Neutra.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Save Iconic Architecture (@saveiconicarchitecture)The Palisades home was designed for the novelist couple as a writers sanctuary. According to the Neutra Institute, which promotes the architects work, the building featured a large patio dividing living and working spaces, clerestory windows and tall ceilings.Other reported losses include the Robert Bridges House, a Brutalist home designed by architect Robert Bridges, who was also a real estate professor at the USC Marshall School of Business, the Los Angeles Times reported.The concrete structure clad with redwood was completed in the 1970s with an overhang above Sunset Boulevard. Pictures shared on social media at the weekend showed the home reduced to its concrete base.AdvertisementAlso reported lost is the 1991 Keeler House, an example of the California post and beam style designed by architect Ray Kappe. The property had recently been on the market for $8 million, The New York Times reported.Kappe was the founder of the Southern California Institute of Architecture, or SCI-Arc. Real estate agent for architecturally significant homes Crosby Doe compared the cantilevered property to homes by Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry.Among those hit by the fire was Dan Meis, founder of New York practice MEIS architects and concept architect for the Everton stadium at Bramley Moore Dock. Last week (9 January) he said he had lost his family home in Palisades.Meis wrote on Instagram: I am grateful that our family and pets are OK, but sadly we lost a lifetime collection of art and books that were irreplaceable. Even more devastating is that we are just one of dozens of close friends and hundreds of other families that suffered the same tragedy. It is surreal like the loss of a limb. We are very very sad but determined to start over.View this post on InstagramA post shared by dmeis (@dmeis)Among the buildings to narrowly avoid destruction was the Getty Villa, although pictures of the educational centre and art museum showed the Palisades fire on the boundaries of the estate.The Getty Villa was designed by architects Robert E Langdon Jr and Ernest C Wilson Jr, who modelled the grounds on the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy. After opening in the 1970s, its most recent refurbishment took place in the 1990s, designed by Boston-based architects Machado Silvetti, who added a new entrance and outdoor 450-seat theatre.The Getty Centre, in nearby Brentwood, has meanwhile said it is closely monitoring the situation after evacuation orders were issued for the area, adding: Our galleries are safe and protected.The centre was designed by 1984 Pritzker Prize winner Richard Meier and was completed in 1997 . The Getty organisation describes the building as a marvel of anti-fire engineering due to its reinforced concrete walls and fire-resistant landscaping. Source:Mila ZED/ShutterstockThe Getty Centre, Los AngelesAlso unharmed was the Eames House, an iconic mid-20th century former residence built in 1949 in Palisades. The Eames Foundation, which now runs the former home of late designers Charles and Ray Eames, said the glass and steel rectangular box structure was unharmed.The foundation continued: The loss and displacement caused by the fires is staggering, and our thoughts are with everyone affected during this unprecedented time. Our hearts go out to the many who have lost loved ones, lives and livelihoods.View this post on InstagramA post shared by Eames Foundation (@eameshouse)