Quote:
Originally Posted by sopas ej
I just now noticed that in the later picture of the old city hall, its tower isn't as tall as in the older picture. Makes me wonder why it was made shorter; I wonder what happened.
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In 1932, the County Court House also had its tower reduced.
Here's a picture from 1936, taken right at the beginning of the building's final demolition. You can see the 1932 roof/cap atop what was left of the tower.
Truncating the tops of brick/stone buildings in old L.A. was fairly common. In 1900, the Bryson-Bonebrake block lost its ornate Victorian cupolas, and the Hotel Nadeau lost its Grecian-style roof pediments even before that. I suspect potential damage due to earthquakes was feared/anticipated, or maybe these various ornamental elements were simply found to be structurally unsound after a time. I really don't know for sure...
-Scott