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The Stimson Building in Downtown Los Angeles, built in 1893, it was demolished for a parking lot in 1963

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  1. The site today.

    Here’s a few more images I found of the building and its surroundings.

    Luckily Thomas Stimson’s house survives to this day, despite the demolition of it neighbors to build a freeway.

    Info from PCAD:

    > Building History
    >
    > Thomas D. Stimson (1828-1898), a lumber magnate originally from MI, purchased lots 4 and 9, block 7, Ord’s survey, and the Howes’s Block for $65,000 from Flora G. Howes on 12/31/1892. This may have been to construct the Stimson Building the following year. Carroll H. Brown (1861-1920), a Chicago architect who designed Stimson’s notable residence on South Figueroa Street (1891), also created plans for this, the largest office building in the city at the time. T.D. Stimson advocated the building of alleyways behind commercial buildings as a necessary convenience for his tenants. When he built this building, he created an alleyway behind, and some tenants were reported to have moved into the building for this reason.
    >
    > In 1895, the Stimson Family had two business enterprises located in the Stimson Block. Thomas D. Stimson, head of the Stimson Mill Company, operated his offices in Rooms #506-508, and the Stimson Brothers–Charles M. and George W.–maintained their brokerage house in Rooms #406-407. The Stimson Brothers also owned their own building in Downtown Los Angeles, known as the "Stimson Brothers Block" at 754 Upper Main Street. (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1895, p. 1312.)
    >
    > Building Notes
    >
    > Stimson’s office building had six stories, a huge tower for Los Angeles, CA, at that time. Soon after its construction in 1893, a number of architects, including L.J.B. Bourgeois (1894), C.H. Wedgewood (1895) and Samuel O. Wood (1895) opened offices in the prestigious new building. In 1914, the Builders’ Exchange had its offices located in the Stimson Building.
    >
    > In 1894, the building’s architect, Carroll H. Brown, operated in Rooms #515, 516 and 517 in the new Stimson Building in Downtown Los Angeles." (See "C.H. Brown advertisement," Los Angeles Herald, vol. 42, no. 76, 06/26/1894, p. 6.)
    >
    > Alteration
    >
    > Architect, Robert Hall Orr, supervised the "modernization" of the Stimson Block, c. 12/1939.
    >
    > Demolition
    >
    > Demolition began 04/01/1963 to clear room for a parking lot.

  2. Shame they didn’t preserve facade, in Paris they have parkings that look like old buildings

  3. stimson had good taste.

    btw, this is a block from the lovely bradbury building.

    such a shame.

  4. LA is really good at destroying its past. It’s a shock anything remotely historical or artistically interesting is still standing when there’s money to be made in parking lots and squatting on empty lots for years.

  5. It’s funny seeing that name. My family, who lives in Seattle, has the home that Stimson built for his daughter. Stimson’s original home is next door.

  6. Unbelievable.

  7. Stimson was from MI! My state!

  8. I am personally not a fan of LA, but downtown LA has a lot of handsome Art Deco buildings. There was a decent collection of neoclassical buildings as well Sad to realize what’s left is a fraction of what was.

  9. /r/VintageLA