The Architects Who Built Los Angeles, 1880s-1900s

Professional architects first began to arrive in California in the 1880s. These architects wanted to practice their profession but were unknown entities, so they stood little chance against the established architectural firms in the major cities of Chicago and New York. Instead of wrestling oversized opponents for tidbits of work, they journeyed to California. They may have gone to San Francisco first, but they quickly discovered it was similar to the big eastern and midwestern cities with known and trusted architectural firms, so they turned and looked south to that small pueblo called Los Angeles, with a population of 11,183 in 1880.

Los Angeles was an unpleasant place back then, filled with unpaved streets, dirty water, unsavory characters, and lawlessness. No sensible person would have wanted to live there. But the architects who designed Los Angeles saw the possibilities for a career, and a new life. With hope as their motivation these architects cast aside their doubts, ventured to the tiny pueblo, and built the foundation for what would become the greatest city on the western edge of the United States. This book presents the lives and achievements of fifteen such architects who built the Los Angeles we know today. Spanning from the 1880s to the early 1900s, this first of its kind history gives insight into the buildings and people that made Los Angeles, and the legacies which loom large and deep into the present day.

Antonio Gonzalez works at a university library in Los Angeles.