Bradbury Building

Bradbury Building
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
	Bradbury Building (2005)
location	Los Angeles , California
Coordinates	34 ° 3 '1.9 " N , 118 ° 14' 52.2" W Coordinates: 34 ° 3 '1.9 " N , 118 ° 14' 52.2" W.
Built	1893
architect	George H. Wyman
Architectural style	Neo-Renaissance , Neo- Romanesque
NRHP number	71000144
Data
The NRHP added	July 14, 1971
Declared as an NHL	May 5th 1977

Inside the Bradbury Building

The Bradbury Building is a well-known commercial building in the heart of Los Angeles . It was built in 1893 , making it one of the oldest surviving buildings in downtown Los Angeles. It is now at 304 South Broadway and has been a National Historic Landmark since May 5, 1977 .

history

The building was commissioned by Lewis Bradbury , who made it a millionaire in the mining industry. Bradbury disapproved of the designs of the first dedicated architect , Sumner Hunt. Then George Wyman got the job. Wyman, who had previously been a draftsman at Hunt, initially turned it down. After allegedly receiving a message from his dead brother on a planchette , he accepted the job.

Wyman was inspired by descriptions of future buildings from the utopian novel The Year 2000: A Review of 1887 by Edward Bellamy .

During construction, a water source was discovered near the site that threatened the project as the water weakened the foundation . Bradbury then imported massive steel girders from Europe to strengthen the foundation. Ultimately, instead of the planned 175,000, he invested the then very high sum of 500,000 US dollars in the construction. He died a few months before the building opened in 1893.

In 1991 the building was restored and made earthquake-proof . Among other things, a new entrance was created at the rear of the building and new lighting was installed.

use

For most of its existence, the Bradbury was used as an office building . As a nationally recognized National Historic Landmark , it is now under protection. Many of the offices are still rented to private companies, but offices are also used by a branch of the Los Angeles Police Department and other government agencies.

A number of movies, TV series and music videos have used the Bradbury as a location, including Victims of the Underworld , Blade Runner , Chinatown , Wolf , (500) Days of Summer , Back to the Past (S1E9) , CSI: New York (S6E22) , Murphy's Law , Revelation, and Lethal Weapon 4 .