The CalEdison | Los Angeles Conservancy
Photo by Annie Laskey/L.A. Conservancy

The CalEdison

Originally the home of a utility company, the Southern California Edison Company Building was one of the first all-electrically heated and cooled buildings constructed in the western United States.

The fourteen-story, steel-framed building follows a classically inspired Art Deco design. The lower three stories are of solid limestone, while the upper stories and central tower are faced with buff-colored terra cotta. On the façade, the spandrels contain a cubic Art Deco pattern, repeated in the central tower, lobby floor and elevator ceilings. On the entry façade allegorical figures by sculptor Merrell Gage represent, light, power and hydroelectric energy. In the two-story lobby, classical elements are treated with an Art Deco flavor.

Below the thirty-foot high coffered ceiling, the floor and walls are composed of at least seventeen different types of marble. At the end of the lobby is a mural by Hugo Ballin titled "Power." The exterior greenhouse-like structures were added in the 1980s and the street-level shopping corridor in 1993.

Photo courtesy Jocelyn Gibbs

1414 Fair Oaks Building

An exploration of the ideal form of California living, the former office of architects Smith & Williams is an outstanding realization of the blend of indoor/outdoor environments, easy automobile access, natural light, and innovative use of geometric forms.
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Mole-Richardson Studio Depot (Demolished)

A prominent fixture along the La Brea Avenue commercial corridor, the Mole-Richardson Studio Depot featured a proportionate blending of Zigzag and Classical Moderne detailing.
Photo by Adrian Scott Fine/L.A. Conservancy

Lerners Building

Part of the National Register-listed Broadway Theatre and Commercial Historic District, this building was originally a women's clothing store.