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Old Posted Dec 8, 2010, 5:21 PM
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GaylordWilshire GaylordWilshire is offline
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West Adams and Hoover

LAPL http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics13/00026128.jpg

Google Street View
Casa de Rosas, 950 W. Adams

Per Wikipedia: "Casa de Rosas, also known as the Froebel Institute and the Sunshine Mission, is a historic building in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. The building was designed by Sumner P. Hunt and built in 1893. It was originally an experimental kindergarten and has also been used over the years as a prestigious college preparatory school for girls, an inn and restaurant, a military barracks in World War II, the headquarters of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics Foundation, and a shelter for homeless women." Quite a history.

The name Froebel reminds me of Frank Lloyd Wright. As the story goes, his mother gave him Froebel building blocks for him to play with as a child, which supposedly influenced his later architectural massing--such as L.A.'s Ennis house. (Friedrich Froebel was an early-childhood-education pioneer who developed the blocks in the mid 19th century. In the Wiki paragraph above, the Froebel Institute is presumably the "experimental kindergarten".)


And across Hoover is a building that has proved somewhat of a mystery. It looks to me as though it could easily be a heavily remodeled Victorian house. There is reference online to the Wilcoxes and Arugellos (-as?), old L.A. families, on this corner: The "Maria Antonia Arguella Wilcox House... at 1100 W. Adams Blvd. This Spanish Colonial Revival-style house was reportedly designed by the noted architect Frederick Roehrig in approximately 1899." But no picture.

Today the building on this corner (of whatever vintage) belongs to the Sisters of the Company of Mary, according to the sign in front. I can't find any pictures of an old house. Can anyone here?

Google Street View

Google Street View
1100 W. Adams. Could the arches be an indication that this was once the Spanish Colonial Revival Wilcox house?
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