Someone I know helped a friend move yesterday. The building, known as "London House", was so eccentric she asked me to look it up:
gsv
London House is on a tiny, dead-end street, La Vista Court, a couple of doors east of the
Raleigh Studios (one of our
oldest studios, founded 1915 as Famous Players Fiction Studio) and just south of Paramount:
google maps
As it turns out, Lionel Rolfe (who at first thought London House had been built by
Felix Peano), in his "
Literary L.A.", 1981 (plus
his 2013 article),
Paradise Leased and the
2016 Historic-Cultural Monument application had done most of the research on this one (even
Curbed LA and
Larchmont Buzz have written it up). There's some good NLA priors too* (five years old now and missing some pix), but I thought I'd add a little more to what we already know.
London House was built in 1925 as the studio of
Norwegian sculptor Finn Haakon Frolich (1858-1947), an intimate of Jack London's (the men bonded over their love of the sea, poker, practical jokes and, of course, left-wing politics). Frolich lived with the Londons at Glen Ellen in 1912, helping to build Wolf House and stayed near his friend until the end. There's one of
Frolich's bas-reliefs of London installed on the front of London House (Frolich dedicated the building to the memory of his friend). This has resulted in the persistent rumor that Jack London (1876-1916) lived at London House (an obvious impossibility).
Mark Schafron relates in "
A Portion Under the Sun" about weekend dinner parties with Jack London at Glen Ellen in the good years. Poet George Sterling was a regular, as was
"Finn Frolich, the sculptor, with his big moustache and square hands, muscled like a stonemason's". These were joined by a merry band of Socialists and Anarchists and,
"Sometimes there were ex-convicts (London had spent some time in jail and had a soft spot for ex-cons) and, occasionally, London's sister, Eliza"
Finn Frolich poses in front of London House:
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Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
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The above, before it was installed:
huntington dl (detail)
Frolich came to LA in 1920 and moved into a preexisting structure at 5152 La Vista Ct. He remodeled the building into a home and studio, and then, needing more space, built 2 1/2-story London House in front of it as an addition. He acted as both architect and contractor for the building:
la city planning
The 1921 Baist map shows the scene about the time of Frolich's arrival at La Vista Ct (it's unmarked by Baist), then known as McDougal Lane. Note that the Clune Studio is labeled "Douglas Fairbanks's Picture Corp Studio". Also note that the Title Insurance and Trust tomb-like Archive Building is set back from the SW corner of Van Ness and Melrose in the center of a three-acre plot. It was built in 1909 on rolling farm land (the only neighbor was the
1902 Hollywood Cemetery), the first structure on the site of what would become
Raleigh Studios:
baist 1921, plate 35
The Archive didn't get any identifying signage until 1927, resulting in many rumors about the place:
Southwest Contractor and Manufacturer Aug 20, 1910, vol 5 No. 15
The Archive had outlived its usefulness by 1939.
At 56' x 76' of solid concrete and steel, it must have been a heck of a demo job:
LAT 31 Jan 1939
From a well-to-do family in
Oslo, Frolich ran away to sea at age nine to work on a windjammer. By age 14 he was a second mate. In later life, he surrounded himself with reminders of his years at sea. London House is very reminiscent of a ship. There were ships' lanterns (one is left), a ship's bell, narrow stairs and passageways, and, except for the studio, small cabin-like rooms. Frolich's penthouse bedroom had a view to the horizons, very like a crow's nest.
There's another, different Frolich
bas-relief of London at the Jack London State Historic Park up in Glen Ellen and also a
bust (a bronze casting of which was in Jack London Square in Oakland until it was placed in storage in the '90s).
Frolich and his portrait bust of his dear friend, Jack London:
lacityplanning
In 1886, after nine years at sea, Frolich left his ship when it was docked in New York. Frolich, just 18, apprenticed to
Daniel Chester French (he actually started with French as a model) in New York, working on many of the sculptor's most important commissions. He was with French for many years, the elder man, impressed enough with Frolich, that, in 1895, French sent him to study in Paris at the Ecole de Beaux Arts and Ecole Nationale with
Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Frolich had
a long and productive career, executing many commissions of his own. He moved from New York to Seattle, Northern, and finally Southern California.
Frolich also sculpted for the nearby movie studios during his Los Angeles years. Most of these works were in plaster and are now lost (he once famously did 100 sculptures in three months for a film). The only film
IMDB lists for him, uncredited, is "
The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923):
gjenvick
Frolich also did
"Modern Speed" for Richfield Oil, a sculpture I was told depicts Barney Oldfield piloting the
Richfield Racer. A bronze casting of it (about 14" long) stood on a plinth on the executive floor at the Richfield Building, and later, in the lobby of the executive floor at ARCO Plaza.
Frolich was known for his energetic charm and generosity. London House overflowed with his friends and his students, a beloved center of Bohemian, Socialist Los Angeles.
Frolich demonstrates, using a young lady, how he delivered loads of stone, clay and plaster to his second-floor studio and lowered sculptures down to street level, employing the block and tackle at the top of the building (giving a whole new meaning to the term "Frolich Room":
Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
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The studio has a huge windows front and back to flood it with light and a skylight above.
The reverse view, as well as being a terrific photograph, reveals a rare treat:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
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Note the "Winter Garden" ice-skating rink, with its great rooftop sign, across Van Ness (this may be the only image of the Winter Garden signage):
paradise leased (detail)
The huge arena was built in 1928 on land leased from
The Clune Company just east of the Clune studio property and a couple of hundred of feet south of the Archive Bldg (the plans were announced in 1925). It was first called "Glacier Palace", and then in 1934 "
Polar Palace". For a brief time in-between those dates it was known as the Winter Garden. (
Martin Pal has taken us here before)The entrance, as one can see, was across from the end of La Vista Ct. The rink burned to the ground in 1963, terrifying the neighborhood:
square one
A shot of the interior of the enormous wooden rink arena after the 1960 remodel. After the fire, Walter Allen Plant Rentals took over the land (they supplied the studios with greens and greenmen). Raleigh Studios later built a soundstage on the site:
square one
During its 35-year lifespan the rink hosted professional and college ice hockey, various figure-skating championships, the Ice Follies and the Ice Capades. It was also the well-loved local rink for teens and families through those years. For the 11 years they overlapped, the Archive building and the rink must have made a very strange pair.
Here's an aerial from before London House and the ice rink, with some
approximate sites marked in this still quite rural area (the camera is looking south). La Vista Ct was then known as McDougal Lane. There was a pond in the dip, near the London House site (until it was drained and leveled), that was reportedly the filming location for a Keystone Cops car stunt in the teens:
usc dl c.c. pierce, photographer (detail).
There were other famous residents of London House.
During Frolich's time in the original building (before the 1925 addition), poet
George Sterling, another friend of London's (see quote above), stayed at the house. He left an inscription behind:
"The young at heart shall find their love and laughter anywhere.
He only in Bohemia dwells who knows not he is there.
- dedicated to Finn Frolich by George Sterling, 1924"
Pals Jack London and George Sterling between swims:
berkeley library
Actors
John Carradine (he was also a student of Frolich's), and later,
Richard Beymer and
Victor Buono called London House home.
John Carradine (here with his own work) tried to break into the movies as a set designer, but DeMille gave him a speaking part instead:
pinterest
Chicano activist and union organizer Frank Lopez, a founder of
Plaza de la Raza and a friend of Frolich's, bought London House from Frolich's survivors:
flickr (detail)
One of Lopez' tenants, writer and script supervisor
Robert Gary bought it in 1957. It must have been this last who deeded it to the current owner,
"Kitten" Francesca Natividad, who got her start working for
Stella Stevens. She was one of
Russ Meyer's ("King of the Nudies") stars. They were a couple for 15 years:
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She is, I am told, as vivacious, charming, energetic and generous as Finn Frolich was in his heyday. Now close to 70, she bounds around her complex, consisting of London House, a bungalow and cottages, looking after her buildings, her tenants (at least one is a relative) and many friends. She is, reportedly, instantly adored by all who meet her:
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Kitten's domain at La Vista Court and Van Ness:
google maps
Frolich's third-floor, penthouse bedroom (in the distance) was mostly enclosed by order of LABS and is now used for storage (the rest of the complex is in the foreground)
Note the windows and balconies on the back of London House:
gsv
Roof-top seating next to the skylight above Frolich's first studio in the original, one-story bit of London House:
la city planning
Inside, looking out of the upstairs, southern door:
la city planning
More photos at the
listing
If you don't know Kitten Natividad's career, you should, b/c fun. Her stage work was a knockout:
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Kitten's iconic poster pose from "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra Vixens" (1979) scripted by Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert (as R Hyde):
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I sincerely hope the city grants London House Historical-Cultural status. I think it deserves it, having more historical-cultural cred per square foot than many other listed buildings.
finn frolich's letterhead illustration of london house
More info at links.
*Those priors, all from 2012:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7566
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7699
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7710
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7726
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=7729
Thank you to
e_r for the
pix.
la city planning