Quote:
Originally Posted by tovangar2
According to David Gebhard and Robert Winter in Guide to Architecture in Los Angeles in Southern California 5401 Wilshire was originally a Spanish Colonial Revival Building from the 20s. (I've spent way too much time over the years staring at the filigree-embossed chimney pot at the apex of the tower tying to figure it out.) They list Marcus P Miller as the architect for the 30s remodel as opposed to Anderson & Norstrom listed by the you-are-here web site. I don't know which is correct.
I can't make out the sign in this highly airbrushed and colored view:
Werner von Boltenstern Postcard Collection, Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount University Library |
The postcard shows the 1935 design for Sontag Drug--a 1935
Times article about the corner's acquisition by Sontag makes no mention of a previous building on the site, but then most of the article is a quote by a Sontag spokesman who was emphasizing the newness of its building. Perhaps a picture of 5401 prior to late 1935 will turn up; if there was a Mediterranean Revival building of some description on the lot, it was most likely by Norstrom & Anderson, who seem to have built mainly in that style. Marcus P Miller was known more for his Streamline and other modern styling--he did the famous Darkroom just to the east and across the street of Sontag Drugs, for one building.
Below is a
Times drawing of a planned building that perhaps never came off--there isn't much info as to architect, though this is very much in accord with the work of Norstrom & Anderson. The exact location on the corner of Wilshire & Cloverdale isn't indicated. Maybe it was eventually built elsewhere, but perhaps the project, built or unbuilt, evolved somehow, for some reason, into Miller's Sontag.
LAT