Quote:
Originally Posted by Retired_in_Texas
The U.S. Hotel was supposedly acquired in 1863 by one Louis Mesmer. Some accounts imply 1866. Acquired from whom would require a search of deed records. Some historical accounts may incorrectly give Mesmer credit for building the U.S. Hotel. Historically, it is unclear whether it was originally a single or two story building and no photos of the original building seem to exist. However historical descriptions of its amenities would lead one to believe it was a two story structure. It was "remodeled" in 1886 by adding a floor and the turreted bay windows indicative of 1880's architectural concepts. The front elevation of 1886 apparently fully replaced the original front elevation. The U.S. Hotel was owned and operated by Louis Mesmer's son Joseph after his father's death in 1900 until it was razed.
According to some accounts Louis Mesmer and son Joseph were among the early "Movers & Shakers" in real estate development, and building construction in Los Angeles in the late 1800's. The Louis Mesmer family lived in the Dr. R. T. Hayes home on Fort Street, purchased in 1871. It continued to be the family residence for over twenty-five years.
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The original United States Hotel was, indeed, a two-storey structure (at left, by the flagpole):
Stereoscope photo by Henry T. Payne, ca. 1880, via
Wikimedia Commons. (File image cropped.)
I don't know if it's really possible to state definitively one way or another if the 1886 hotel incorporated portions of the original or not. Either POV can only be termed speculation based upon what scant evidence we have available to us today. If some of the old building was added onto, my guess would be only the bottom floor was retained, but that large corner entrance on the ground floor of the 1886 hotel was clearly a new structural element not present in the original building.