This week's edition of the LA Times West Magazine features a series of profiles on defunct public, commercial and municipal spaces in the city that have been reincarnated as residences through adaptive reuse. "Born again, these buildings give rise to unique dwellings with a lot of soul. They also make sound conservation sense, preserving resources and helping to put the brakes on regional sprawl."

The structures profiled include a church, an electric substation, a grocery store, a movie theater, a firehouse and a water tower. Each has had its structural intergrity and the character of the exterior preserved, with interior renovations that vary in degrees, but generally still hold the personality and utilitarian nature of the place's first life.

Thanks, Rebecca.