El Royale | |
---|---|
Location | 450 North Rossmore Avenue, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Coordinates | 34°04′43″N118°19′37″W / 34.07856°N 118.326874°W |
Built | 1929 |
Architect | William Douglas Lee |
Architectural style(s) | Spanish Renaissance Revival |
Website | elroyaleapartments |
Official name | El Royale Apartments |
Designated | September 2, 1986 |
Reference no. | 309 |
The El Royale is a historic apartment complex located at the intersection of Rosewood Avenue and Rossmore Avenue in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was designed by famed architect William Douglas Lee [1] [2] and completed in 1929.
The apartment building is known as a home for celebrities, and for its iconic green neon rooftop sign, which had been unlit for 50 years. [3]
The El Royale was constructed in 1929, underwritten by the Barco Investment Company. [4] William Douglas Lee, architect of the famed Chateau Marmont, was conscripted for the design. [4] It was created as a fusion of Spanish Colonial Revival, French Rococo, and Renaissance styles and featured modern state-of-the-art amenities such as an elevator, neon sign, and putting green. It also showcased luxuries including marble floors, elaborate chandeliers, panoramic penthouse views, and hand-carved wood. [5] [4]
In 1952, the apartments purchased the Union Oil Building at S Hope Street and 7th Street in Downtown Los Angeles as an investment for $2.2 million [6] (equivalent to $25.2 million in 2023). In November 2012, the El Royale was purchased by Kamran Hakim and Farhad Eshaghpour for $29.5 million in cash. [7] [8] [9]
The El Royale has been known as a home for celebrities over the years, including Nicolas Cage, [10] Huell Howser, [11] Al Jolson, [12] and George Raft. [13]
Scenes for Double Indemnity (1944) were filmed in the building's garage. [14] The front facade of the building has been used in scenes for the TV series All of Us and Girlfriends,[ citation needed ] implying that one of the fictional characters from each show lived at the apartments. The El Royale, however, is not the setting of the 2018 movie Bad Times at the El Royale .
The Chateau Marmont is a hotel located at 8221 Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The hotel was designed by architects Arnold A. Weitzman and William Douglas Lee and completed in 1929. It was modeled loosely after the Château d'Amboise, a royal retreat in France's Loire Valley.
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William Douglas Lee was an American architect and designer in the early 20th century whose career focused on designing large Neoclassic, Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Beaux-Arts style manufacturing buildings in Downtown Los Angeles, as well as other historically notable works such as the Chateau Marmont and the El Royale apartments.
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