Title supplied by cataloger. Designed in 1929 by Allison & Allison, the Southern California Edison Company building was erected on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Grand Avenue by the P. J. Walker Company. Occupying a site of 175 x 175 feet, and at a height of 222 feet, the fourteen-story building was about one-half the height of the Los Angeles City Hall. It is estimated that about 400,000 inches of bead were required to hold in place the 3500 tons of structural steel, fabricated by Consolidated Steel Corporation, and that every column and girder in the steel frame was braced and cross-braced with steel webs and plates, riveted and welded in such a way that the finished building would have a resistance to external forces not approached by any other type of construction. The frame was designed so that the building would be capable of withstanding a general conflagration, a major hurricane or an earthquake of large intensity. The steel-framed building follows a classically inspired Art Deco design, with the lower three stories made of solid limestone, and the upper stories and central tower faced with buff-colored terra cotta. On the facade, the spandrels contain a cubic Art Deco pattern, which is repeated in the central tower, lobby floor and elevator ceilings. The cost of the building, together with the value of the site, was estimated at approximately $3,575,000. It opened on March 20, 1931 as the Southern California Edison Company corporate headquarters. View shows the Southern California Edison Company, located on the corner of Fifth Street and Grand Avenue. The building is almost complete, with only the tower and upper portion not yet finished as of the date of this photo. The lower half shows scaffolding, though it appears to be complete, and on the left, an enormous construction elevator rises beyond the tower. A pedestrian walkway has been put in place along the sidewalk for safety purposes. Adjacent on the right is the Sherwood Apartment house, and on the left is the Engstrum Hotel Apartment building. Photograph dated September 2, 1930.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;25 x 19 cm. on sheet 28 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
One Bunker Hill Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Southern California Edison Company Engstrum Hotel Apartments (Los Angeles, Calif.) Sherwood Apartments (Los Angeles, Calif.) Building construction--California--Los Angeles Art deco (Architecture)--California--Los Angeles Building sites--California--Los Angeles Office buildings--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments Apartment hotels--California--Los Angeles Apartment houses--California--Los Angeles Lost architecture--California--Los Angeles Bunker Hill (Los Angeles, Calif.) Allison & Allison
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