Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@usc.edu Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 USC Libraries Special Collections University of Southern California specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph. "Patterns... you see them everywhere in the out-growing city... the concrete pillars, burlap-draped, that stand where a freeway will rest... the storied palms of Hollywood fame paralleling each other against the concrete lines of the streets... the still geometry of skeletal skylines... But the pattern above is a secret one in Los Angeles, one natives tease the newly arrived about, one the visitor rarely sees... like some plotted ink blot, this is the upward look from the almost 70-year-old Bradbury Building... on South Broadway... downtown... this is the central court, haloed by a skylight five floors up... balconies ring the court and stoic within the ring is the elongated elevator shafts with their open elevators... you see the patterns as you ride up and down... Bradbury Buildings, inspired by the Colombian Exposition of 1893 where French ironwork teased the inspirations of architects and planners... here is the masterwork of the late 19th century... now it is a pattern, a downtown office building, an open elevator riding proud among the old patterns of a planner..." -- Examiner clipping attached to verso, dated 4 June 1961. Streetscape. Horizontal photography. Additional information: The building was built in 1893. In a 1953 article for Arts and Architecture, Esther McCoy wrote that according to George Herbert Wyman’s daughters, George Herbert Wyman designed the building. There is enough evidence to suggest that Sumner Hunt was the architect, but that Lewis Bradbury asked George Herbert Wyman, who worked in Hunt’s office, to supervise construction. Possibly to cut on costs, since the US was going through a recession. In more recent architectural descriptions of the building (as of April 2018) it appears that the architects are often listed as Sumner Hunt and/or George Herbert Wyman source: McCoy, Esther. "A Vast Hall Full of Light: The Bradbury Building." Arts and Architecture 10 (April 1953): 20-21, 42-43
-118.26474,34.10459 -118.26472,34.1046 -118.26474,34.1046 -118.26472,34.10459 304 South Broadway Bradbury Building California Los Angeles USA
Source
3-1275-02805-1531 [Barcode] EXM-P-S-LOS-ANG-CIT-BUI-391 [Original Filename] Subjects 317 [Print Box] University of Southern California [Contributing entity]
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