Bryson Apartment Hotel

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The “Bryson” with the distinctive stone lions at the front of the entrance

The Bryson Apartment Hotel is a historic ten-story apartment building on Wilshire Boulevard ( MacArthur Park section ) in Los Angeles . It was built in 1913 in the Beaux Arts style and for many years was considered one of the most luxurious residential buildings in the city. It is closely linked to the film noir history of Los Angeles and the work of Raymond Chandler , and was also one of the locations for the neo noir film The Grifters . The large “Bryson” sign on the roof and the stone lions at the building entrance have become urban landmarks. The "Bryson" was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 7, 1983 as a monument . In 1998 it was designated as a Historic Cultural Monument (HCM # 653) by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission .

Construction and architecture

Building seen from the west with “Bryson” sign on the roof

The "Bryson" was built in 1913 by the contractor Hugh W. Bryson on a section of land on the west side of Wilshire Boulevard, which at that time was primarily a residential area. The entrepreneur acquired the site itself in 1911 and had the four houses on it demolished shortly afterwards. Originally a six-story building, which was directly connected to the sidewalks, was planned; after complaints from the neighborhood, however, Bryson decided to build a set back, albeit taller building. This decision was announced in March 1912 and the building contractor justified it with the fact that he did not want to spare any costs in making this building in a class of its own. Bryson commissioned the architects Frederick Noonan and Charles H. Kysor to design the building; he had the construction carried out by his own company, FC Engstrum & Co. , which was completed after just seven months of construction (from June to December 1912). The total cost of land, construction and furnishings was estimated to be $ 750,000. The building combines Beaux Arts and Classical style, the construction of the building was around a central courtyard almost eight meters wide and 15 meters deep. At the time of opening, the Brysons had 320 rooms, divided into 96 apartments that could be further connected to form suites with up to 12 rooms. All four outer sides of the building were decorated with multi-colored tiles, the interior equipped with chandeliers made of cut glass, steps and paneling made of Italian marble, tiled floors and richly decorated furniture made of mahogany . The tenth and top floor was intended for general use and had a ballroom, library, billiard room and three enclosing arbors, from which - the building was erected on an elevation and the only high-rise in the area - panoramic views were possible. Bryson reportedly spent $ 60,000 on carpets, art, rare plants and other furnishings on the top floor alone.

Apartment building

Stone lions at the front entrance

Early success

The opening of the building in January 1913 was accompanied by hymns of praise from the press, as the Los Angeles Times called it splendid and comparable to the magnificent apartment buildings in New York's Riverside Drive district. This contrasted with previous press reports that doubted Los Angeles was the right place for such a building. The house was fully rented just two days after it opened, and in 1915 it was sold for $ 1,250,000, $ 500,000 more than it had cost Bryson. In its early years, the Bryson was considered the preferred location for the “beauties” of the city, dominating Wilshire Boulevard as the only high-rise for many years. The Ambassador Hotel was added in 1921 , The Gaylord in 1924, The Arcady in 1927 and the Bullocks Wilshire in 1929.

Post-war until today

Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity

In 1944, the Bryson was bought for $ 600,000 from actor Fred MacMurray , who starred in Double Indemnity , and had been in his possession for nearly 30 years. However, as other parts of the city of Los Angeles expanded rapidly in the late 1940s, the star of the building began to decline, and MacMurray then achieved a reduction in the tax valuation of his property to $ 100,000 in 1949, arguing that the high cost of the building was would make it unprofitable. In the 1970s, the "Bryson" had lost much of its former glory, other areas of Los Angeles had overtaken Wilshire Boulevard. In 1977 the top floor, formerly the flagship of the building, was converted to use as a warehouse. In 1999, it underwent a $ 5.5 million renovation. The action to equip the striking stone lions at the entrance with protective helmets and orange protective vests caused a stir.

The connection with Raymond Chandler and the film noir

The writer Raymond Chandler helped to give the "Bryson" the status of a landmark when he it in his 1943 work The Lady in the Lake (in German under the title "Die Tote im See" first published in 1976) a role let play, because that is where private detective Philip Marlowe pursues the lady mentioned in the title. Even today, thousands of Chandler fans make the pilgrimage to Los Angeles every year to see the places mentioned in the writer's novels, including the "Bryson". The building was used in other stories, novels and films of the noir genre, for example in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity (1944, German title: Frau ohne Konsissen) based on the novel by James M. Cain and a screenplay by Wilder and Chandler; In Stephen Frear's neo-noir film The Grifters (1990, German title: Grifters), the “Bryson” is one of the locations.

Landmark

The "Bryson" was added to the National Register of Historic Places (# 83001184) in 1983 and in 1998 designated as a Historic Cultural Monument (HCM # 653) by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission . It is one of several Registered Historic Places that encircle Lafayette Park , other examples include the Granada Shoppes and Studios , The Town House , the Felipe De Neve Branch, and Bullocks Wilshire a block to the west.

See also

List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles

Web links

Commons : Bryson Apartment Hotel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Entry in the National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed May 20, 2016
  2. ^ A b Bryson Apartments, HCM # 653, in MacArthur Park. Office of Historic Resources, City of Los Angeles, Department of City Planning, accessed January 21, 2010 .
  3. ↑ a b c Big Sum Buys Bryson Hotel: Ten-Story Pile at Wilshire and Rampart Sold; Close to a Million Gets It for OS Weston; Large Tract of Land Part of Consideration , Los Angeles Times. November 29, 1913. 
  4. ↑ a b To Follow New York Models: Fine Apartment House for Wilshire Corridor; Structure Will Be Absolutely Fireproof in Type; Will Stand in Heart of Ultra-Fashionable District , Los Angeles Times. March 12, 1912. 
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Finest West of New York: Splendid Bryson Apartments Ready for Opening; Building Stands in Heart of Wilshire District; Cost Nearly Three-quarters of a Million , Los Angeles Times. January 5, 1913. 
  6. ↑ Record Breaker: Huge Rental for Bryson; Magnificent Hotel Leased for Ten Years; Prominent Hotel Men Secure Wilshire Apartments; Property Is Finest of Type West of New York , Los Angeles Times. September 28, 1913. 
  7. ↑ a b c d e Apartment Hotel Erected in 1913 Gets Facelifting , Los Angeles Times. February 20, 1977. 
  8. ↑ Los Angeles' Finest Apartment-House Sold: Capitalist Gives Valuable City Property and Large Cash Consideration for 'The Bryson' - Holdings Include Southwest Acreage, North-end Business Frontage and Bunker Hill Corner , Los Angeles Times. December 12, 1915. 
  9. ↑ Wilshire Blvd. Property Sold to Film Star , Los Angeles Times. September 14, 1944. 
  10. ↑ Screen Stars Win slashes in assessments , Los Angeles Times. July 22, 1949. 
  11. ↑ Shirley Leung: Guys in Hard Hats Can Seem Like Animals Sometimes , The Wall Street Journal. July 7, 1999. 
  12. ↑ William Arnold: RAYMOND CHANDLER'S FANS FLOCK TO SCENES OF HIS FICTIONAL CRIMES. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 27, 1986, accessed January 21, 2010 .

Coordinates: 34 ° 3 ′ 40 "  N , 118 ° 16 ′ 53"  W.