The herald., 1894-01-01
ANGELES ARCHITECTURE
The Style and Character of
Our Buildings.
Thoughtful and Conservative Sug-
gestioHs By an Expert.
haw we Build and How Each Year
saos to the Thoroughness and
BeAuty OF 0ur Residence
and Business Blocks.

beautiful city is one that must be OF
great interest. not only to our own eiti-
xens but 10 the people OF other sections
OF the country interested in this section.
Los Angels. is becoming noted for it's
handsome residences. business blocks
and public buildings.
A HERALD reporter had an interesting
conversation with Mr.. Theodore A.
Eisen dsy or two ago upon this very
subject. As the ARCHITECT OF the new
county court house, aud more recently
superintendent OF buildings of Los An
geleH city, and q wide experience else
where. Mr.. Eisen's observations are
invested with unusual interest.
Upon being asksd Whist be considered
the prospect for building the ensuing
Jear, Mr. Eisen said:
II do not imsgine that the building
work for the coming year will be exces-
siye. as the primary cause in the past
year for our prosperity inNhat direction
has been the building of great numbers
of small habitations, ranging from 5000
to $4,000, built principally by the owners
themselves, although possibly 25 per
cent of the same have been bnilt for sale,
in order TO sell the lands, which house
and land, thus sold on the inetallment
plan, has been accepted by the buyer in
lieu of paying rent. l am inclined to
bslieye that the wants of the class OF
people so building and buying are fast
being supplied. and as this part of the
building work has been 40 per cent of
the aggregate, l believe the
same will be materially decreased
in the coming year. l think 1t
is the sxperisnce of most cities that an
Augmented activity OF work of this claes
is syasmodic and has its continuance for
limited period, although our period of
:es;yitv I am free to sRy. has been of
over two years duration, with but little
variation in the average. On the other
hand, the class of people who have built
the other so per cent OF the work may be
divided up to those building first class
residences, tenements for rent and busi-
ness buildings respectively, and, consid-
ering all things, they will exceed their
buildiDg operations to very great ex-
tent the coming over the past year. on
the grounds that teuemeEts for renting
purposes are NOW and will possibly be
in demand in localities contiguous
that the past has told us that
in the matter of private residences we
have improved from year to year. re-
garding their number, average cost of
each. and in architectural merit.
Business blocks cannot fail to be in
order the coming year even at the ex-
psnse of the transfer of business
PRESTIGE southeastern on the line OF our
principal streets, which we must admit
now seems to be the case"
sWhat do you think OF the architect
ural taste evinced by the public in our
private and business buildings, Mr..
Eisen 2"
"Well, I'hardly like to be taken as q
critic, for you know doctors differ; law
yere, they say, sometimes do; artists
and architects, as we'll as all lay people
that hobby upon an aesthetic, artistic,
poetic knowledge, absolutely don't agree
at all, 30 now. /, in anewering that
question. seriously jeopardize my popu-
larity with my professional brethren, and
in Justice to them will say that the
many crude exemplifcations of archi-
tectural design, and there are many in
this city, haWe been caused in moet
cases by the structures and dictations
placed upon the architect by the owner,
who has desired to obtain the greatest
amount of alleged ornamentation, be it
or other material, having no connection
whatsoever with the structure of the
building, and this ornamentation, so
colored and shaped as to assume in APP
pearancs> the solid material for which it
is substit pted--in fact, a sham of truth
full imperE. l assume that ornamental
ton should only be applied to such ma
terial that is fundamental toaand part of
the construction.
II know of many buildingaFhere pure
in detail and harmonious in design, that
carry an individualism to the observer
and are marked In that respect, though
plain in execution, and are in striking
contrast to the rows of tscades
wing with each other in ''cut scroll"
and Gig saw fantasiss, the design
seemingly created by the workmen at
the bench or at the machine, rather
4 than emanating from the brain OF an
architectural designer. l am far from
denying that we have much good work
comparing favorably with the best OF
other cities, but sill we have lots OF
bad, and it behooves us to sustain our
claims to architectural merit as well as
our well-deserved claims to climate,
beautiful streets, magnificent building
sites and well-considered landscape work
IN CITY Ol uOluees bO AAuuiy Oheao c0
by nature that certainly it should not
be marred by any misconceived artif-
cialities of the house builder.
What do you think OF the materials
employed?v
TT seems to be accepted by the build
ing public that wood alone is the most
preferable in point of comfort, health,
usage, ETC., for the construction of resi-
dences, but think it we'll worthy of
confederation the employment of stone,
brick, or staff in the conjunction with
wood, thus relieving the monotony of
rameness and affording a more consiR-
tent means of decoration.
'As regards business buildings the
owners would be justified in emitting
the use of stone to any great degree,
and meritorious treatises can we'll be
rendered in brick with small amount
Of stone or terra Gotta az adjunctive
decoration, when the csst of the.work Ia
q dcAiderafunl from speculative point
O! view. l think many OF the business
blocks could be done in much palmer
taste, and still be at par with the prece-
dents afforded by the works of other
cities.
'Our large business and public build
ings are acknowledged to be typical Of a
high order OF construction and design"
EDO you think that any rnore high
buaineHs blocks will be In order in the
s,r M es}iate future ?n