Blackstone Building (Los Angeles)

Blackstone's Department Store in 2013

The Blackstone Building (formerly Blackstone's Department Store, now the Blackstone Apartments) is a 1916 structure located at 901 South Broadway in Los Angeles, California. It has been listed as a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument since 2003 (number LA-765).[1] The Blackstone Department Store Building is an early example of the work of John B. Parkinson, Los Angeles’ preeminent architect of the early twentieth century. The building is clad in gray terra cotta and styled in the Beaux Arts school.[2]

History

Nathaniel Blackstone (brother-in-law of department store magnate J. W. Robinson) opened Blackstone's Dry Goods in 1895 on the 300 block of Broadway, and later hired Parkinson to design his flagship store further down the street, opening in 1917.[3] In 1939, Blackstone’s was sold to the Famous Department Store Company, and renovated by Morgan, Walls & Clements. Stiles O. Clements designed a ground-floor façade in the Streamline Moderne style; this façade is now protected by an easement by the Los Angeles Conservancy.[2]

In 2010, the Blackstone Building was adaptively reused and converted to 82 apartments with ground-floor retail space and a subterranean parking garage.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Monument Search Results Page
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Blackstone Department Store Building | Los Angeles Conservancy
  3. ↑ Early Downtown Los Angeles - Cory Stargel, Sarah Stargel - Google Books
  4. ↑ Romancing the Blackstone - News - LADTN

Coordinates: 34°02′32″N 118°15′23″W / 34.0423°N 118.2564°W