Quote:
Originally Posted by ethereal_reality
OK..I don't want you to think I'm obsessed with Alvarado Terrace but I just wanted to point out these four interesting homes that surround the old First Church of Christ, Scientist
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The architect and designer of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles, is Elmer Grey; this is his account, in part, of this structure:
"The situation is the corner of Alvarado Street and Alvarado Terrace, and a very unusually shaped lot is partly responsible for a decidedly unique plan and equally unusual exterior."
Drawing of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles
"The lot is shaped somewhat like a kite with the pointed or tail end of it facing the intersection of the two streets. The church is planned with its main entrance at this point of intersection. From this point Alvarado Terrace runs down hill at quite a rapid rate, which circumstance has been taken advantage of by placing the Sunday School room with its entrance at the low end of the lot on Alvarado Terrace."
Main Floor Plan - First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles
"The whole planning of the church has been an endeavor to exemplify that a building should be the logical outcome of the peculiar conditions which happen to pertain to any particular architectural problem, rather than merely a compilation of some historic style mechanically adjusted to a plan, but having little organic relation to it."
Sunday-School Floor Plan
"The main Auditorium is approximately 95 feet x 91 feet in size and seats approximately 1125 persons. Over the Foyer is a Balcony, easily reached by two flights of stairs and seating about 175 additional persons, making a total seating capacity of 1300 people."
Detail of Entrance
A "notable feature is a spacious arcaded porch [see 'Detail of Loggia' photo] on the south side of the building, semi-circular in shape..."; "The porch will look down upon a court which will be planted out with flowers and shrubs as a garden, thus enhancing its attractiveness."
Detail of Loggia
The book
The Planning of Christian Science Church Edifices by Elmer Grey shows various photographs of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles; a couple of those pictures are included here (see "Detail of Entrance"; "Detail of Loggia"). The photographer of those pictures stepped inside the loggia and snapped a shot of what one would have seen if they were looking in a rather south-westerly direction, across Hoover street:
Detail of Loggia
I spy a belvedere:
More Detail of Loggia [photo edited by me]
That belvedere belongs to the first house of ethereal_reality's posting #6360, a house we've seen various pictures of in Noirish Los Angeles:
1515 South Hoover Street, Los Angeles
Google Maps
In
"Real Estate Records - Transfers," Los Angeles Herald March 24, 1890, the "W 150 feet of lot 20, block C, Finney tract," was transferred to Henry Gilmore from H. E. Upton, Joseph Daniels and George H. Bonebrake:
Major George H. Bonebrake
Yes,
that Bonebrake, of the Bryson-Bonebrake Block:
Bryson-Bonebrake Block
In January 1889, the Bryson-Bonebrake block began building; cost: $300,000; designed by architect Joseph C. Newsom who, at the time, had nearly two dozen of his designs sprouting city-wide. (
Los Angeles Herald, "
The Building Boom," January 1, 1889.)
The
Los Angeles Herald announced the Grand Opening of the Bryson-Bonebrake Block in their February 24, 1889 edition (
"A Noble Building"):
- The Spring Street school house (c. 1850) stood in that lot shortly before ground-breaking began on the Bryson-Bonebrake Block.
- The lot comprised of 120 feet on Spring street and 103 feet on Second street.
- The Bryson-Bonebrake had its own loggia "in the finest type of the Romanesque, with pillars of Colton white and black marble."
Let's now return to 1515 South Hoover street where, on March 31, 1901, the city issued P. B. Roy (incorrectly identified as "P. B. Ray" in the
Los Angeles Herald's real estate section) a building permit for a two-story frame residence to be built on that lot, for $5,800.
On April 17, 1901, the Los Angeles Herald described 1515 South Hoover's residence as "
A Substantial Dwelling House," designed by the architectural team Garrett & Bixby (who we're read about in Noirish Los Angeles as the designers behind the Van Fleet apartments, 230 S. Flower street; see CityBoyDoug's posting #
15386). We also a get what appears to be an architect's drawing of the residence:
A Substantial Dwelling House
I believe that when the
Los Angeles Herald reported newsworthy P. B. Roy-related items, that there was only one person by that name. With that said, Mr. Roy was, at the time, the proprietor of the Wellington saloon, on West Third street. The noirish aspect enters in at 1:20 AM, January 18, 1902, when he went home after work; there was, per his wife, a burglar in the house. Mr. Roy searched the premises for an hour, but didn't find an intruder. At 3:00 AM, however, the prowler stood in their bedroom and Mrs. Roy screamed. Mr. Roy ran after him, but didn't track the thief down, who had made off with valuables including a $300 diamond stud. The
Herald made it attractive to burglars everywhere by reporting in the article (
"Porch Climber Takes Roy's Watch and Stud," Los Angeles Herald, January 19, 1902) by describing, in detail, exactly where the owners kept their loot: the burglar "would have secured a great deal more jewelry," located "in the lower drawer of the [bedroom] bureau"; and where to find the tools necessary for a break-in: the porch climber "secured a ladder and chisel in the basement." In fact, three months later, a burglar climbed the rear fence at Mr. Roy's residence at 3:00 AM (
"Roy's Bloodless Duel," Los Angeles Herald, April 11, 1902); Mr. Roy and the intruder exchanged gunfire without injuries, and the would-be thief fled.
(Sources:
Out West magazine, August 1912, page 71, "The Christian Science Architecture of California," by George Wharton James; book:
The Planning of Christian Science Church Edifices, by Elmer Grey)