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 of foundation being set in place for the Southern California Edison Building. Engineers have designed this, so the vertical loads will be carried on rivets in the usual way, but arc-welded connections will be substituted for riveting in bracing against horizontal forces. Several construction workers can be seen below in the cavernous foundation, dwarfed among the large wooden and steel beams and rods. Photograph dated October 11, 1929.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;24 x 20 cm. on sheet 28 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Southern California Edison Company One Bunker Hill Building (Los Angeles, Calif.) Building construction--California--Los Angeles Construction workers--California--Los Angeles Building sites--California--Los Angeles Wooden beams Girders Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Calif.) P. J. Walker Company Allison & Allison
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