Place

Bullock’s Wilshire / Southwestern Law School

The former Bullock's Wilshire department store building is a spectacular gem that exemplifies the height of the Art Deco style in Los Angeles and beyond.

Address

3050 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California 90010
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Architects

Style

Art Deco

Decade

1920s

Designation

Property Type

Community

Los Angeles

Photo by Hunter Kerhart | Photo by Hunter Kerhart

Overview

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Timeline

Bullock's Wilshire | Adrian Scott Fine / L.A. Conservancy

1929: Bullocks Wilshire opens as a “cathedral of commerce” and the first department store designed to accommodate the automobile, with the main entrance in back next to a large parking lot and a stunning “porte cochere” (carport). | Los Angeles Public Library

Reproduced by Permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, CA

restored by Southwestern Law School. | Tom Owen Collection/Los Angeles Conservancy Archives

Tim Street-Porter

Anne Laskey

Bullocks Wilshire after opening | Bruce Boehner/LAC Archives

1928. | Tom Owen Collection/Los Angeles Conservancy Archives

first floor | Tim Street-Porter

Anne Laskey

Men's Department | Courtesy of Southwestern Law School

Southwestern Law School. | Mott/Merge Collection

Liz Reinhardt (Courtesy of Southwestern Law School)

Sportswear Department | Courtesy of Southwestern Law School

Southwestern Law Library in the restored space that once housed Sportswear. | Mott/Merge Collection

One of the beautifully restored Period Rooms that once housed Finer Apparel. | Courtesy of Southwestern Law School

Lalique light fixture custom-designed for Bullocks Wilshire. | Mott/Merge Collection

Detail from Bullocks Wilshire Tea Room menu. | Larry Falke (Courtesy of Southwestern Law School)

Tea Room restored to 1929 design; now dining space for Southwestern. | Larry Falke (Courtesy of Southwestern Law School)

before remodel. | LAC Archives

LAC Archives

Courtesy of Southwestern Law School

Mott/Merge Collection

Marble-lined Perfume Hall | Tim Street-Porter

Detail of porte cochere. | Tim Street-Porter

Hunter Kerhart

Bullocks Westwood (Welton Becket and Associates), 1951. | Los Angeles Public Library

1993: The magnificent Bullocks Wilshire building at Wilshire and Westmoreland closes, its fate uncertain. Southwestern Law School purchases it the following year, completing a ten-year, $29 million restoration and adaptation. | Tim Street-Porter