AS Featured: Architecture in Los Angeles
The Wiltern
The Wiltern opened in 1931 and is a stunning example of Art Deco architecture. The office/retail building was designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements and the theatre was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh. In 1979/80 the theatre came within days of being demolished; its saving was a major turning point for historic preservation in Los Angeles.
The theatre was built as part of the Pellissier Building, commissioned by socialite and real estate developer Henry de Roulet in 1930. De Roulet was the maternal grandson of Germain Pellissier, a French immigrant whose family owned the land upon which the building was constructed.
The building exterior was clad with a special turquoise (blue/green) shade of Gladding-McBean terracotta which came to be known as Pellissier Green.
The office tower portion of the building was 12 stories high, a “limit height” building at a time when all buildings within the City of Los Angeles were required to be shorter, or the same height, as City Hall.
The theatre opened in Fall 1931 as Warner Brothers Western Theater, primarily as a movie theatre but including stage facilities for vaudeville. It was the flagship for the Warner Brothers theatre chain and followed Warner’s building boom of Art Deco theatres in Beverly Hills, the Warner Huntington Park, and the Warner Grand in San Pedro.
The theatre boasted what was claimed to be the largest pipe organ in the Western US at the time: a 4-manual, 37-rank Kimball (Opus 6644), with nine of the ranks in an “echo organ” chamber at the rear of the auditorium to the [house] left side of the Projection Booth. The organ was transferred from the Forum Theatre where it had originally been installed in 1924.
The decorator for the theatre’s interior was noted muralist Anthony Heinsbergen’s decorating company. The centerpiece of the theatre’s interior design is the auditorium ceiling which contains a sunburst pattern of Art Deco skyscrapers, an imagining of future buildings on the city’s up-and-coming Wilshire Blvd, all set against a rainbow background of multi-colored stars.
The Griffith Observatory
Griffith Observatory is an observatory facility on the south-facing hillside of Mount Hollywood, in Los Angeles, California. With its unique setting, Art Deco architecture, and commanding views of the Los Angeles Basin, the observatory is one of the most recognisable and popular landmarks in California.
The observatory was conceived by Griffith J. Griffith, who donated an area of land to the City of Los Angeles in 1896. As Griffith became something of a notorious figure – he served time in jail for murdering his wife – the City were reluctant to develop the land during his lifetime. In his will, Griffith left funds to build an observatory, exhibition hall and planetarium on the donated land, with the intention of making the science of astronomy accessible to the wider public.
Since opening in 1935 – only the third observatory with a planetarium in the world - the observatory has become one of Los Angeles’ most popular tourist attractions. The observatory design was based on plans created by the astronomer Russell Porter, who envisaged a domed facility with rooftop views. In 1931, architects John C. Austin and Frederick Ashley were appointed to the project, with Porter retained as a consultant. The Art Deco design was a combination of grand and monument styles, part Roman temple, part Moorish mosque or mausoleum. Construction began in 1933, as a New Deal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, with the Depression meaning that building materials and labour were both cheap and readily available. The architects ensured that they specified materials that were obtainable in Los Angeles or the vicinity, to help local industry and employment. In March 1933, as construction plans were being finalised, a major earthquake in the Long Beach area led to the abandoning of the planned terra cotta exterior in favour of stronger and thicker concrete walls. The walls were then painted ‘warm white’ with decorative iron-grill windows. The domes consist of copper panels, which have over the years oxidised to a bright green colour. A walkway around the planetarium is crowned with concrete arches, influenced by Art Deco as well as Greek Revival styles. The construction was completed to a cost of only $400,000.
The Georgian Hotel
Santa Monica has long been a desirable destination for tourists and fun-seekers. In the city’s earliest days, vacationers pitched tents on the beach and swam in the surf. As the city grew, so did the sophistication of its amenities for tourists. By the 1920s Santa Monica offered chic and expensive hotels, luxurious beach clubs, and plenty of opportunities for fun.
Although the Depression, starting in 1929, curtailed Santa Monica’s leisure industry, there were still enough well-heeled customers coming to Santa Monica to justify the construction of the Georgian Hotel in 1931. Thanks to its prime location and up-to-the-minute architecture, the Georgian quickly attracted a stylish clientele, reputed to include numerous Hollywood celebrities. Part of the draw was the hotel’s speakeasy where customers could drink in comfort and privacy in the years before Prohibition was repealed.
The Georgian Hotel was the work of locally prominent architect M. Eugene Durfee. Perhaps Durfee’s most visible work, aside from the Georgian, is the pared-down Art Deco Central Tower Building at 1424 Fourth Street, completed in 1929. At the Georgian Hotel, Durfee opted for a more ornate style—incorporating Period Revival stylistic elements into an Art Deco design.
Period Revival features include the building’s overall symmetry and the fact that its entrance is above street level, reached by a flight of stairs. Small balustraded balconies (located just above the awning) also give a nod to the style. Differing treatment of different stories is also typical. Here, for example, the lower parts of the façade are incised to resemble large blocks of stone while upper stories feature flat stucco.
Despite the use of these historic elements, the Georgian Hotel comes across, first and foremost, as an Art Deco creation. Art Deco, as the name implies, tended toward artistic decoration, and such ornamentation is plentiful here. The Georgian Hotel features numerous low-relief plasterwork panels embellished with favorite Art Deco motifs, including stylized foliage and scallop shells. These plasterwork elements are interspersed with decorative metal panels which mix graceful scrolls with more angular shapes. Numerous other decorative details, as well as a lavishly embellished area near the roofline, convey a sense of opulence and plenty confirming that Art Deco was an optimistic style, despite the era in which it flourished.
This eight-story hotel was, for many years, one of the tallest structures in Santa Monica. Its striking look advertised Santa Monica as a modern and beautiful place to be. Today the Georgian Hotel stands out both as a monument to the city’s long tradition as a tourist and leisure destination and to the golden age of Art Deco.
Catalina Casino
The Catalina Casino has been an icon of Catalina Island since it opened in 1929. The culmination of a ten-year building program by William Wrigley, Jr., the Casino cost $2 million to construct and was hailed as "a monument to the effort of [Wrigley] to give Catalina the finest and best the world's artisans have to offer."
Based on a suggestion by his son, Philip K. Wrigley, Wrigley had envisioned a large, Moorish building featuring a ballroom placed over a theatre. Architects Walter Webber and Sumner A. Spaulding brought Wrigley's vision to life in a circular, cantilevered structure of steel and reinforced concrete. Its elegant design, blending Mediterranean Revival and Art Deco elements, gives the building a lightness that belies its massive construction.
The project was immense on every level. With the exception of the 105,000 Catalina roof tiles made locally of native clay, building materials had to be brought to the island from the mainland. The Casino's opening was celebrated over two days by around 10,000 people -- including King Neptune, who arrived by seaplane to deliver the key.
The Casino dominates the Avalon landscape and exemplifies the style and romance of Catalina Island. Its Avalon Theatre and upstairs ballroom have hosted countless moviegoers, entertainers, bands, dancers, and revelers. The Casino's appeal spread far and wide through live radio and television broadcasts.