2959 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010, USA

The Town House (Sheraton Town House;Sheraton West)- National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance

The Town House, annex, south underground garage, and the north underground garage are being nominated under National Register Criterion C. Under this criterion, the Town House and these ancillary buildings are significant in embodying the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style, period, and type of construction: specifically the high-rise, masonry, steel frame, apartment hotel designed in Period Revival Style in the decade of the 1920s. Located at the center of a development area of elite residential hotels, the Town House is the most important example of a rare group of high-rise apartment buildings constructed on Wilshire Boulevard and thoroughfares to the north and south, demonstrating the utilization of Period Revival style to create a cultured architectural ambience, thereby inducing residential settlement through the building’s appeal to an elite clientele. The Town House complex is also significant as the finest, known example of the work of notable Los Angeles architect and Period Revival stylist Norman W. Alpaugh, and the design most commonly considered emblematic of his career.

In Los Angeles through the late 1920s, the abundance of cheap land and the generally mild Mediterranean climate had favored both single-family residential development and low rise, low density (one to four stories, two to eight dwelling units) apartment and garden court development. Single family residences accounted for the greatest majority of the building permits issued. A relatively small percentage of the building permits during the 1920s were issued for medium-rise apartment houses - 5 to 8 stories. Gradually during the 1920s and 1930s, property west of downtown along Wilshire Boulevard and its parallel east-west thoroughfares - 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th - converted from large suburban residences and open lots into higher density commercial and residential uses. On the north-south perpendicular streets in the neighborhood of the Town House - Westmoreland, Commonwealth, Shatto Place and Normandie - numerous three- and four-story apartments, both free-standing and with party walls, were built for an upper middle-class clientele. Churches and synagogues also took their places on the Boulevard and on the adjoining residential streets. Few luxuries high rises were built in the approximately two and-one-half mile square area.

Context 1- Stylistic Example
The Town House is significant under Criterion C at the local level in the area of architecture as an important example of Period Revival design in the community of Los Angeles during the 1920s, and it represents the most fully expressed example of that style of design applied to Highrise (i.e., nine stories in height or greater) apartment buildings in Los Angeles. The high-rise apartment category to which the Town House belongs - 9 to 13 stories - accounted for a small subset of the total construction activity of the decade. The Town House, built to the 150 feet, 13 story City height limit, belongs to an even rarer sub-category of the high-rise category. Since City ordinances mandated that no buildings could exceed 13 stories, the height of City Hall, height-limit buildings in the city acquired particular importance and were given special attention in terms of designers and materials.

Luxury apartments were a feature of the development pattern along Wilshire Boulevard and in the larger surrounding area. An important group of mid-rise apartments, comparable in construction costs and marketing were built in the area surrounding the Town House. In the 700 Block of South Normandie Avenue to the south of Wilshire Boulevard, important city designers such as Lee Callahan & Sons, Max Maltzman and A.B. Rosenthal utilized Beaux Arts, Mediterranean Revival, and Classical Revival designs. Like the Town House, the mid-rise apartments were typically of brick or concrete construction and were designed in Period Revival styles: Tudor, Chateauesque, a few Egyptian, and the highly favored Spanish Eclectic designs - Churrigueresque, Mission, Monterey and Pueblo Revival. Architects whose buildings were designed to appeal to a wealthy clientele favored revival styles that spoke of elegance and refinement, i.e., Beaux Arts Classical, Tudor, Egyptian or the French eclectic Chateauesque, a design that had a strong popular appeal during the years immediately following World War 1. Two Period Revival height-limit apartment hotels were built along the Boulevard, the Gaylord (1923 Walker & Eisen) and the Talmadge Apartments (1924, Curlett & Beelman). These were elegant apartment hotels also designed to appeal to an up-scale clientele. Further east along Wilshire were the Bryson and Arcady. Scattered individual examples were also constructed along the parallel corridors. These were generally less elegant than the Town House or the other two Boulevard hotels. A cluster of prominent high-rise residential hotels was constructed along Rossmore Avenue at the northern boundary of this residential area, served by Wilshire Boulevard with its houses of worship, elite department stores and retail establishments.

Attracted by evocative styles, Los Angeles architects with commissions for height-limit buildings began to favor decorative elements chosen from Classical Greek, Roman, and Renaissance prototypes as well as early Anglo-American types such as Georgian, Federal and Adamesque. These design elements, selected from historic models or pattern books, readily conveyed the Anglo-American heritage associated with settled commercial and social respectability. In addition, the greater surface area and mass of tall structures offered greater scope for artful design arrangements.

The Town House owes its rusticated base to the Renaissance Revival style modified by the Beaux Arts. Red brick for the middle and upper floors -an extremely effective and very unusual use of the material in that division of a high-rise building to contrast with the lower stories and set off the imposing entrance and piano nobile - together with strong delineations of upper floors by use of a string or cornice molding, suggest the Georgian style. Its full Roman classical entablature enriched by a dentil course and supported by fluted columns, indicate a reference to the Neo-Classical style. In addition, the Town House shows delicate Adamesque ornamentation in ironwork balcony detail and symmetrical window rows on a five-bay base. Taken together, these varied elements exemplify the method of Period Revival architectural design; the use of carefully selected, eclectic, historic design details and materials to create a building with easily grasped feeling and associations, readily internalized by potential residents and patrons. Thus, the building’s grace, polish and refinement became the attributes of those who inhabited it, as well as the stylistic hallmarks of the design.

The Town House building. Annex, and subterranean parking structure have retained integrity of location, design and workmanship as well as the feeling and association so nimbly orchestrated by architect Norman Alpaugh. While the Annex has had some minor changes in material, c. 1955, it has retained the aspect of a 1929 Period Revival building. When Wilshire Boulevard was extended through Westlake (now MacArthur) Park, the Town House, only four years old, immediately became the most prominent high rise - the tallest architectural landmark on the eastern end of the Wilshire Boulevard Corridor. Facing Lafayette Park and located only a block east of Bullock’s Wilshire, it became an easily recognizable landmark, emblematic of the Boulevard’s luxurious ambience. Wilshire Boulevard only changes direction between Los Angeles downtown and Beverly Hills once, at Commonwealth Avenue, the Town House corner.

Drivers emerging from Westlake Park westbound on Wilshire were struck by the vision of the Town House directly facing them, framed by the surrounding buildings, a view that continued to hold the attention all the way to Commonwealth Avenue where Wilshire Boulevard assumed a more westerly direction. The siting of the Town House was extraordinary to begin with, and what Alpaugh was able to do with it took on a notable significance.

he Town House is also eligible as the finest example of the architect’s documented work, and the commission for which he is most often remembered. Architect Alpaugh (1885-1954) was born in Canada and came to Los Angeles in 1911, later joining forces with architect C.H. Russell. Russell & Alpaugh became well-known as commercial and institutional architects, although they are also credited with designing several large residences in Hancock Park, including that of Hollywood financier, C.E. Toberman. During the brisk building decade of the 1920s, the firm designed a height-limit auto garage in the Spring Street Financial District; the Kroehler Manufacturing Company’s Inglewood headquarters; the Chamberlain & Procter Building in Hollywood; and Temple Emanu-El on Manhattan Place between 6th Street and Wilshire Boulevard. Alpaugh also received several school commissions: University High School in West Los Angeles, a building for Harding High School in the Sawtelle district of West Los Angeles, and Seventh Street School in San Pedro. Alpaugh designed a height-limit garage in the heart of the Spring Street financial district, and received two coveted commissions for height limit apartment buildings in the Wilshire Boulevard Corridor area: the Asbury and Town House Apartment Hotels.

Alpaugh’s work was characterized by innovation and progressive planning. His design for a height-limit garage - an architectural first in Los Angeles - on Spring Street was illustrated by a perspective drawing and a sketch of the plans in the Southwest Builder and Contractor, April 30, 1926. "Fifteen Floors in Downtown Garage to Be Served with Three High Speed Elevators" headlined the story which emphasized the combination of tiers of office lofts on the front elevation with the remainder of 13 floors plus two basements for parking cars. The elevators made possible speedy delivery of autos to owners since there was no room on the lot for ramps. The Spring Street facade of the building was a handsome Romanesque Revival design in brick and terra cotta with a rusticated base and tall, elaborately quoined arched entryway. Three central bays were surmounted by Romanesque arches; similar smaller arched lights ornamented the penthouse story. It is not clear whether the building was actually constructed, although it is listed as one of the architect’s credits in Who’s Who in Los Angeles County. Nevertheless, the design shows Alpaugh’s skill in adapting Period Revival elements to his building’s purpose, and demonstrates how he earned his reputation as a high-rise architect, executing commissions that required a pioneering approach to architectural problems.

On the eve of the Town House commission, Alpaugh’s profile in Who’s Who in Los Angeles County, 1928-29, a directory of prominent Los Angeles area professional and business people, indicated that he was well-known in the City and among his peers. Eulogized at the time of his death in a profile length obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Alpaugh was specifically remembered for the design of the Town House and Asbury Apartments. The citing of the Town House as a key work shows that the Wilshire Boulevard structure was a career achievement in the eyes of his peers. Alpaugh’s briefer funeral notice mentions only the Town House among all his works. The Town House complex looms large in Alpaugh’s career, since it enabled him to secure his reputation with a well-funded building, having exceptional siting, intended to appeal to the prosperous clientele which was settling into the area’s apartment hotels.

The story of the planning, construction and grand opening of the Town House was clearly perceived as of major importance by the local news media and published in feature articles in the "Metro," real estate and rotogravure sections of the Los Angeles Times between March 1928 and 1930. Acknowledgment of the design as a major contribution by the architectural establishment is also suggested by illustrations in the Architectural Digest in 1930 and feature coverage and illustrations in California Arts and Architecture in May, 1936. The attention paid to the structure indicates the pivotal role the structure played in his career.

Until 1956 the Los Angeles building height limit mandated by City ordinance was 150 feet. The low profile of Los Angeles with its 13-story height limit was not just a safety issue, or a consequence of the abundance of land. Instead, it was a deliberate commitment to maintain a suitable scale for the city. As a consequence, during the 1920s period of construction, height limit buildings in Los Angeles had a monumentality and importance far greater than their big-city Eastern counterparts of the same height, and high-rise commissions became exceedingly important in an architect’s career.

In his book. The Architecture of Los Angeles, architectural historian Paul Gleye illustrated Alpaugh’s other major apartment hotel commission, the Asbury Apartments, which were approximately a mile east of the Town House. The Asbury too looked out upon a park, Westlake/MacArthur Park, and was height limit, 13 stories. A somewhat simplified Mediterranean Revival style characterizes the structure located on West 6th Street, a major thoroughfare parallel to and two blocks north of Wilshire Boulevard. The building has tripartite organization and a L-shape. Its architectural focus is a narrow central tower block at the intersection of the wings which is finished with a short hexagonal turret. On the Asbury, the architect’s period revival decorative elements focus on the top ofthe central turret which features a set of arched windows and a lattice work balcony with elaborate tiered brackets. An adjoining lot facing on Sixth Street was walled to provide a landscaped area. Facing Sixth Street, the two attic stories are embellished by paired baldachino columns, recalling the Spanish Colonial architectural legacy. The Asbury Apartments was certainly an important commission in terms of scale and location, and the choice of the familiar Mediterranean Revival style was both popular and appropriate, undoubtedly signaling to tenants the "California" idiom. Yet the structure’s decorative elements are sparse and do not come together as a whole to give it a sense of elegance or refinement. In addition, the building’s large expanses of undecorated and identical window rows, and the pronounced belt course between the midsection and top stories, overstress the divisional proportions. Still the Asbury is a sophisticated effort. It may have been done with a smaller budget, but it was certainly well-received, got a good deal of publicity and remains a landmark along Sixth Street in the Wilshire Center area.

The Town House’s builders were willing to expend more time and money on a Wilshire Boulevard structure, since a Boulevard apartment hotel’s architecture was bound to be compared with nearby landmarks such as Bullock’s Wilshire and the I. Magnani department stores, as well as dignified, skillfully-wrought Period Revival houses of worship, and the refined low-rise storefronts along the corridor streets, Wilshire Boulevard, 6th and 7th Streets, and the residential cross streets of the area. First, the Town House appears to have been Alpaugh’s largest commission. In addition, it was a significant planning achievement because of the care and artistic attention given to the organization of a complex facility which included subterranean parking garages beneath a garden, and numerous tenant amenity - unusual diplex apartment units with state-of-the-art electrical conveniences, wood-burning fireplaces in all units, multiple dining and banquet rooms, and other service functions designed to meet the needs of short and long-term residents. Third, but of greater importance, is the fact that the structure demonstrates uncommon skill in treating the design challenges posed in articulating the facade of a tall structure that is also very wide.

At the building’s opening, September 11, 1929, the Los Angeles Times noted the important innovation of "an underground garage with a garden built on top at ground level, a feature not duplicated anywhere else in the U.S." Ten years later, I. Magnin, Wilshire opened with a grand party emphasizing its garden entrance. I. Magnin, together with the May Company, Wilshire, also built at the end of the decade of the 1930s at the western end of Ae Wilshire Corridor, promoted the ease with which the stores could be approached by automobile. The Town House, built ten years earlier, had both the garage and the garden. It is clear that the architectural and social image of the Town House influenced structures that came later in the Wilshire Corridor area.

Not only was the Town House significant in its day, it continues to remain one of Los Angeles’ distinguished buildings. Most significant in the work is architect Alpaugh’s choice of period revival elements. His inspired use of the piano nobile, Adamesque ornamentation, beltcourses, classical entablatures, keystones and elaborated window treatment created a design of sophistication, polish and taste. In short, he conveyed the cachet of the Boulevard and the surrounding area. The Town House remains a stellar example of architectural design in the service of what was both a commercial and aesthetic purpose. His skillful utilization of the eclectic elements of Period Revival style to convey the desired characteristics for an elegant, widely acclaimed establishment is the measure of his career achievement. Through its combination of Period Revival elements, use of brick patterning to achieve massing, its preeminent place in the work of Norman W. Alpaugh and its role as exemplar of the apartment hotel property type so important to the residential development of Wilshire Boulevard and the surrounding area, the Town House has played a significant role in the architectural history of Los Angeles.