545 S Plymouth Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90020, USA

Petitfils-Boos Residence

The Petitfils-Boos Residence is an excellent example of the Italian Renaissance Revival style, as well as an important contributor to the historic significance of the Windsor Square neighborhood.

Designed by Charles F. Plummer for restaurateur Walter Petitfils, the house also demonstrates the unique ongoing relationship between the architect and his clients. Plummer had already designed several commercial establishments for Petitfils and his friends and fellow businessmen, Horace and Henry Boos. Petitfils and the Boos brothers all purchased nearby lots in Windsor Square and hired Plummer to construct their homes.

The two-story, 9,000-square-foot house is clad in buff-colored glazed terra cotta. A large, stained-glass window is located above the main entrance, which is framed by a pair of Corinthian columns supporting decorative urns.

In 1927, Walter Petitfils moved to another house two blocks away and sold the South Plymouth Boulevard property to his friends Henry and Cassie Boos. Henry died in 1957, and Cassie lived in the home until her death in 1960. The house has had several subsequent owners but has remained largely intact, with only minimal alterations over time.

The Conservancy holds an easement that protects the façade of the main residence, as well as the concrete perimeter wall.

Photo from Conservancy archives

Petitfils-Boos House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance

Completed in 1922, the Petitfils/Boos Residence is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion C as an excellent example of the Italian Renaissance Revival style as well as for its association with the nationally acclaimed Dutch-born moralist, Anthony Heinsbergen. The residence is significant in local history in the contexts of residential architecture and art. Constructed with high quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship, the residence is one of the outstanding residential examples of Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in Los Angeles. Murals and stained glass, unique in residential architecture, add to the significance of the residence.

Historical Background:
The architect of the residence, the original, and the subsequent owners had longstanding relationships with one another. The residence was designed by the distinguished local architect, Charles F. Plummer. He opened and architecture office in 1913, after working in Seattle, Washington. He designed a number of notable buildings in Southern California including the Young’s Market Company Building at Seventh and Union and the Del Mar Club in Santa Monica. During the teens, Plummer designed several shops and restaurants in downtown Los Angeles, including a candy story for Walter Petitfils and a cafeteria for the Boos Brothers, both on South Broadway. Beyond their business acquaintance, the Petitfils and Boos were apparently friends as well. In the 1920s, Henry Boos, Horace Boos, and Walter Petitfils all purchased land in the neighborhood of Windsor Square and hired Charles Plummer to design residences for them - the Henry Boos Residence at 454 Windsor, the Horace Boos Residence at 535 South Plymouth, and, of course, the Walter Petitfils Residence at 545 South Plymouth. In 1927, Walter Petitfils sold his residence at 545 South Plymouth Boulevard to Henry and Cassie Boos and moved two blocks away to 415 South Windsor Boulevard. Henry Boos died in 1957, and Cassie continued to reside in the house until her death in 1960. The residence has had several owners since then.

Architectural Significance:
The Petitfils/Boos Residence can be understood generally within the context of the Mediterranean Revival movement, and more specifically in terms of the Italian Renaissance Revival. Renaissance refers to the artistic, architectural, and literary movement in Europe between the 14th and 16th centuries. The Renaissance Revival style is based on the architecture of Italy, with additional elements borrowed from Ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The style was loosely based on the Italian Renaissance palazzo. Traditionally, the palazzo rested on a “basement” which was half above ground and facade with smooth or rusticated stone. Above it was the “piano nobile”, the main floor of the house, often recessed slightly from the basement and differentiated in style and facing material. Above the “piano nobile” was the “attic,” an imposing roof or upper story, usually more ornate than the features below it and crowned with a Classical cornice.

Interest in Renaissance architecture was ushered in by the New York firm of McKim, Mead & White. First in the Villard House (New York, 1883), and then in the Boston Public Library (1888-95). In Southern California, the Italian Renaissance Revival style was popular during two separate phases. The first phase from 1890 to 1915, was characterized by large and elaborately decorated buildings. Architects such as George Lawrence Stimson used the style as a dramatic contrast to the Queen Anne style. Yet his buildings still reflected the excess associated with the architecture of the turn of the century. His highly decorated Wrigley Mansion on South Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena is a case in point.

The second phase from 1915 to 1930, was characterized by more refined details than the preceding phase. By this time, many architects and their clients had visited Italy and thus had some first-hand familiarity with the original models. Improved printing technology provided ready access to excellent photographic documentation of these models.

The identifying features of the second phase of the Italian Renaissance Revival is a symmetrically arranged facade, a low-pitched hipped roof usually fit with clay tiles, upper story windows smaller and less elaborate than those below, full-width porches with massive square piers, large arched openings on the ground level, entrance areas accented by small classical columns or pilasters, and stuccoed walls accented with quoins.

In Los Angeles, a conservative but well executed vision of Beaux Arts Classicism began to unfold along Spring Street after 1900. The image of the Italian Renaissance palazzo was lost, however, in stretching the tripartite form over as many as twelve stories. The best interpretations of the Italian Renaissance palazzo in downtown are the Subway Terminal Building (1924-26) on Hill Street; the Broadway-Spring Arcade Building (1924); and the Standard Oil Company Office Building (1923-24) at 605 W. Olympic Blvd. These buildings, however, lack the horizontal orientation and proportions of their historical prototypes. The Pasadena, Glendale, and Beverly Hills Post Offices are also good examples of the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The Young’s Market Company Building, along with the three aforementioned post offices, are more literal in their interpretation of the style.

In terms of residential architecture, the Italian Renaissance Revival was one of several period revival styles that gained popularity in the Los Angeles area during the 1920s. While most of the period revival styles, including Spanish Colonial Revival, English Tudor Revival, and American Colonial Revival, were applied to houses large and small - the Italian Renaissance Revival was reserved for stately homes and apartment buildings. Typical examples of the style in the Los Angeles area are more similar to Spanish Colonial Revival style residences than the commercial and institutional examples of the Italian Renaissance Revival.

Italian Renaissance Revival style houses are distinguished from the Spanish Colonial Revival style by their boxy proportions, general sense of formality, quoins used to accent the corners, and highly decorated entrances. In most cases, the Italian Renaissance Revival style residence had a rectangular shape with smooth stuccoes walls. Like Spanish Colonial Revival style residence, the exteriors were usually void of any surface decoration. In the case of the Italian Renaissance Revival style, quoins were often found at the corners and entrances. They were typically fabricated of plaster. Low-pitched hipped roofs with little if any overhang covered the buildings. The focal point of the facade was the main entrance, which was invariably set in a large arched opening. Arched openings might also be found on the ground level. Second stories were simple in detail.

Overall, the quality of the design and materials in the Petitfils/Boos Residence distinguishes it from other examples in the Los Angeles area. In a land of concrete and stucco, the terra cotta exterior of the Petitfils/Boos Residence is both sumptuous and unique. The residence embodies the distinguishing characteristics of the Italian Renaissance Revival style in its proportions, roof treatment, horizontal organization, and repetitive arches at the ground level. The decorative art in the residence adds to its distinction and significance. Particularly impressive is the dome of the foyer, which features cherubs and muses with musical instruments. Two sculpture alcoves in the living room feature Renaissance-style murals.

The residence is also significant under Criterion C as an early and rare example of the residential work of the moralist Anthony Heinsbergen who was hired by the architect to create hand-painted ceilings layered with gold leaf, as well as carved and stenciled beams. Heinsbergen began his craft as an apprentice in his native Holland. In 1906, he emigrated to Los Angeles where he continued his art education at the Chouinard Art Institute. At the age of twenty, while working for another decorator in Seattle, his boss died, leaving him the company and twenty-two uncompleted projects around the country. Among the jobs he and his crew worked on during those early years were the Department of Commerce Building in Washington D.C. And the Sir Francis


Drake Hotel in San Francisco. In 1922, he founded the A.B. Heinsbergen Decorating Company on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles. Over the next six years he captured and impressive catalogue of commissions including architectural ornamentation and mural contracts for the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, the Telephone Building in downtown Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Hall, the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, and the Elks Club near MacArthur Park.

Throughout his career Heinsbergen collaborated with the most prominent architects of his day on buildings of all types, but his artistic reputation is indelibly linked to theater decors. Legendary impresario Alexander Pantages presented the artist with his first commission in 1924. Heinsbergen went on to decorate over 750 theaters nation-wide during America’s golden age of theater construction. He was most proud of his classically-inspired murals for the Orpheum Theater in Vancouver, B.C., but is largely remembered for his highly stylized wall murals such as those in the Tower Theater in Fresno.

Residential work, such as the Petitfils/Boos Residence, offered Heinsbergen the freedom that was stifled in his more public commissions. For example, the owners of the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles forced the artist to paint clothes on the nudes in his ceiling frescoes and two-story murals. Heinsbergen may have created the stained glass and the floor mosaic as well as the murals and stenciled ceilings in the residence. The stained glass features the same cherub theme that was used in the murals. Only 200 of Heinsbergen’s theater commissions still survive. His residential work was more limited and was not as well documented. The Petitfils/Boos Residence is significant as one of his few documented residential commissions.

Physical Integrity
The residence retains a high level of physical integrity. Only a few alterations have been made to the exterior. The three kitchen windows, which face north onto the driveway have been replaced. Originally, they were ordinary wood frame sash. They were replaced with art glass casements topped with arched transoms. On the balcony that overlooks the backyard, a small addition was made to one of the two sitting rooms on the second story. It is only visible from the balcony. Although the interior has sustained some modifications (particularly to the kitchen and bathrooms), all of the significant works of decorative art in the residence are intact, including the stained glass window over the main entrance and the three arched openings on the south elevation; the ceilings of the foyer, music room, and dining room; and the arched panels above the doors in the living room.