Ernest McConnell

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The Chapman Building at the northeast corner of 8th and Broadway in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles Exterior view of the Los Angeles Investment Building (later the C.C. Chapman Building), ca.1913-1918 (CHS-2321).jpg
The Chapman Building at the northeast corner of 8th and Broadway in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles

Ernest McConnell was an American architect, who worked in-house for the Los Angeles Investment Company.

Contents

Chapman Building

He designed the Charles C. Chapman Building (originally the Los Angeles Investment Company Building) at 756 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, 13 stories, built 1912 at a cost of $1 million, Beaux Arts style. [1] [2] [3]

The Globe Savings Bank also moved its headquarters to the new building. [4]

It is now in residential use as the "Chapman Flats" above the retail at street level. Charles C. Chapman — the first mayor of Fullerton and the chief patron of Chapman University in the city of Orange — bought the building for $1.6 million in 1920. [5]

The building is designated as City of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument no. 899 and a contributing property to the Broadway Theater and Commercial District. [6]

Designs for homes

Cover of Modern Homes of California (1913) Modern Homes of California book cover.png
Cover of Modern Homes of California (1913)

McConnell also designed numerous Craftsman homes featured in a plan book that the Los Angeles Investment Co. published. The LAIC constructed many homes from those plans in various housing developments they built throughout Southern California. [2] [7]

McConnell oversaw the creation of all the designs in a 92-page catalog book that the Investment Co. released in 1912-3, titled Modern Homes of California. The book contained 77 architectural designs and photographs of mostly Arts and Crafts style bungalows across the Southland priced between $1500 and $5000, as well as 200 detailed illustrations of exterior and interior views, along with plans that provided accurate estimates for construction materials and labor costs. [8] [9] [10]

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References

  1. "Los Angeles Investment Co. Building, Los Angeles, Cal". Loyola Marymount University Digital Collections. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  2. 1 2 "Charles C. Chapman Building – Charles J. Fisher". Historian for Hire.
  3. "Chapman Building Historical Marker". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  4. "Equipment for bank quarters cost $180,728". Los Angeles Evening Express. April 12, 1913. p. 18.
  5. Rasmussen, Cecilia (25 March 2007). "City's old names grace trendy new residences". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  6. "Historic Places Los Angeles - Resource Report". historicplacesla.lacity.org. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  7. "Many Fine Homes Near Completion". Los Angeles Evening Express. June 28, 1913. p. 14.
  8. "New Bungalow Book". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. June 14, 1913. p. 8.
  9. "Modern Homes of California". Antique Booksellers Association of America. Los Angeles Investment Company (Trade Catalog Bungalow Homes). Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  10. "Library Books: Monthly Bulletin of the Los Angeles Public Library". Google Books. Los Angeles Public Library. 1914. Retrieved 19 October 2024.