Our History
The Family & Architect
In the 1880s, Joseph Witmer and his family arrived in Los Angeles and bought 650 acres on a hill adjacent to downtown Los Angeles and called it Crown Hill.
Looking north from Belmont Hotel, 1886
The family founded the California Bank and a cable railway called the 2nd Street Cable Railway that helped spur development on Crown Hill. The Witmer family “imprint was all over Crown Hill, in the houses they built, in the land they sold, in the cable railroad, in the investments in the area” (Comer, 39). The exemplary Victorian home of Samuel Lewis (c. 1890), brother-in-law of Joseph Witmer, still stands on Miramar Street. Initially, the cable car business was seen as a success and sparked development on Crown Hill. However, the company was sold in 1887 and shuttered two years later after a rainstorm partially buried a large portion of their tracks in more than twenty feet of mud (Masters, “LA Once Had Cable Cars, Too”). The Los Angeles Railway, the “Yellow Car,” took the cable car’s place and served Belmont Square and the rest of Crown Hill with a stop at 3rd Street and Columbia Avenue.
The 2nd Street Cable Railway Company, c. 1880
Architect David Julius Witmer was the son of Joseph and Josephine Witmer and was born soon after the family’s arrival in Los Angeles in 1888. Witmer received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1910 and obtained a graduate degree in architecture in 1912. He returned to Los Angeles in 1914 and began an architecture firm with Loyall F. Watson in 1919. Witmer became most famous for his role as chief architect of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. (1941-1943).
Witmer was also an active member of the Southern California Chapter of the American Institute of the Architects (AIA), in which he served as director, secretary, and eventually president. From 1922 to 1924, Witmer’s firm received multiple honors from the AIA for “tastefully restrained homes... designed to encourage relationships to the patios, gardens, and outdoor living spaces...” (Ceylon, “The Wyvernwood Architects: Witmer and Watson”). David Witmer was considered one of the most celebrated residential architect of the southwest (Comer, 77) (see “Artistic Homes” periodical archive).
Building Belmont
With the population of Los Angeles nearly doubling in the 1920s, there was a significant need for increased housing. During this time, low-flung, single-family homes made up most of Los Angeles’ suburbs. As such, duplexes, fourplexes, and bungalow courts were a popular means of increasing density among developers since it minimized the visual disruption of a multi-story apartment building. Bungalow courts, in particular, were popular since they emphasized outdoor spaces with natural landscapes and facilitated communal interactions (LA Conservancy, “Garden Apartments of Los Angeles: Historic Context Statement”). With A.A. Daugherty’s vision of recreating New York City-style row houses and David Witmer’s ability to skillfully incorporate natural landscaping, Belmont Square was able to address concerns for density, affordability, and outdoor spaces.
The Belmont Hotel stood where LAUSD’s Belmont High School currently sits, across Belmont Square
Witmer designed Belmont Square for Santa Monica based developer A.A. Daugherty. At the time, Witmer was known for his innovative courtyard residential complexes in Los Angeles and Belmont Square reflects one of the earliest and most unique designs. Witmer’s design of Belmont Square was an early experimentation in realizing the ideas from the Garden City movement that were becoming popular among architects at the time. The Garden City movement spurred architects to improve the quality of life for city dwellers where density, noise, and pollution had become serious issues.
Advertisement for Belmont Square in The Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1924
In February 1924, the complex was completed for approximately $750,000. A.A. Daugherty offered units on an “own-your-own” plan, where a family would purchase a duplex, live in one, and rent out there other to pay the mortgage (The Los Angeles Times, January 20, 1924).
Creating Community
Communal interaction was made explicit on the deed of each parcel. It stated that each owner would have part ownership of the private walkway, service alleys, and other available amenities (Land Records Divisions, “Grant Bargain and Sale Deed”). This meant that each owner owned up to the middle of the Columbia Place footpath, creating an interesting experimentation in community living. Decisions about these communal resources would be made in a housing association.
Columbia Place Garden
The garden space and footpath creates a unique environment that directly reflects Witmer’s vision for living spaces, incorporating natural landscaping and facilitating communal interaction. Furthermore, the proportions of the garden, created by the distance between the two rows, adds intimacy to the space. Once on the path, there is a strong feeling of detachment from the hardscape of Los Angeles’ sidewalks and the noise of the city’s thoroughfares.
Happy to Be Here
Belmont Square is a unique district of row houses that provided one of the earliest case studies of how the streetcar influenced the suburbanization of Los Angeles and offers a look at the way in which the complex’s design creatively addressed issues of affordability, density, and open spaces to provide a quality of life residents of Los Angeles were seeking . With relatively cheaper cost of land outside of downtown, coupled with affordable fares on the street cars, the development of apartment suburbs such as Belmont Square attracted people of various socio-economic classes (Jackson, 118-119). The district also offers a glimpse into a particularly rare precursor to Los Angeles’ garden apartments not generally discussed in Los Angeles’ history of residential development and architecture. Garden apartments in Los Angeles are often discussed in the context of its evolution from duplexes, fourplexes, and bungalow courts. Belmont Square’s creative design addressed and continues to address issues of affordability, density, and open spaces that provide a quality of life residents of Los Angeles continue to seek.
Columbia Avenue side of Belmont Square
Ingenuity
The Los Angeles Times, December 27, 1922
Experimentation of Plan and Style
Belmont Square provides a particular example of a prototype adapted through David Witmer’s ingenuity and experimentation.
On each parcel, a duplex was stacked as two stories and combined in three rows in a dense superblock plan. The division of the upper and lower unit for each parcel was a clever way in doubling the number of units, while simultaneously maintaining an exterior that did not visually highlight increased density. Moreover, each parcel had a garden space that connected into a larger communal space where residents could enjoy the natural landscape and mild climate of Los Angeles.
The complex is housed in an East Coast-style row homes with a gentle wash in a minimal Art Deco style. Original doors, windows, and trimming details are similar to those found in American craftsman homes throughout Los Angeles. However, detailed ornamentation is kept to a minimum, drawing one’s eye, instead, to the gardens along the footpath.
In essence, David Witmer was able to take the already-established design of row houses found in dense urban areas of the East Coast and adapt it for Angelenos who believed outdoor spaces provided a good quality of life.
Living in the Experiment
Witmer’s personal home and compound lies only one block from Belmont Square on Witmer Avenue and 2nd Street. These simple Mediterranean Revival homes were Witmer’s first experimentation in building entirely with reinforced poured concrete. The concrete would became a signature for his firm, Witmer and Watson, due to its ability to withstand earthquakes.
David J. Witmer’s Personal Residence & Compound, 1921, Los Angeles Historical Cultural Monument (HCM) #538
Context
Early 1900s Rideshare
Cable and electric street cars played a key role in the growth and urbanization of Los Angeles in the 1920s. With the city’s burgeoning public transportation system, developers began to lay out housing communities far beyond the city center. Crown Hill was one of the first suburbs of Los Angeles to be developed as a result of the 2nd street cable car. As street car tracks were laid out, housing followed and gave rise to the rich urban fabric that we enjoy in the various neighborhoods of the city today. This mode of development continues, with transit-oriented developments being supported and rewarded with zoning incentives.
In post-World War II America of the 1950s, housing development turned away from public transit as automobiles became increasingly affordable. The focus on the commuter began to deeply carve the vehicular grid of Los Angeles’ urban terrain. However, despite being known as a car-centric city today, Belmont Square continues to draw people with its lush garden walkway and community-oriented architecture and space. Even after almost a hundred year in existence, Belmont Square continues to be an example of a development that understood the lifestyles and living spaces desired by Angelenos.
Traffic on Western Avenue, 1924
Leisure & Landscape
One of the first developments in the Crown Hill area was the 2nd Street Park and Lake in 1885 (later called Lake Shore Park), on what is now the site of the First Street-Beverly Boulevard Viaduct. It was marketed as an attractive area for home buyers, and could easily be reached from downtown on the 2nd Street Cable Car line. As the price of the land became too valuable for park-goers, it was filled in and sold off in 53 individual parcels (Masters, “How L.A. Lost One of Its Earliest Parks”).
Echo Park Lake lies just north of Belmont Square, about a 20 minutes walk away. The park, which began as a reservoir, was made public in 1895 with an accompanying boathouse. It was easily reached on the Red Car that ran along Glendale Avenue. Residents of Crown Hill could come down to the stop at the intersection of Lucas Avenue and 1st Street and continue their way to the park. Echo Park Lake was and continues to be an invaluable leisure area for residents of Crown Hill and the surrounding areas.
2nd Street Park and Lake where the 1st Street-Beverly Boulevard Viaduct stands today, Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
Vista Hermosa Natural Park is another urban park that is a valuable local resource for the residents of Crown Hill. It opened on July 19, 2008 as a 10.5 acre park reclaimed from former oil fields that had covered the area beginning with Los Angeles’ oil boom in the late 1890s. In a way, this park brings back the neighborhood’s loss of Lake Shore Park. Today, the park has trails, streams, meadows, picnic grounds, playgrounds, a soccer field, and areas where one can get sweeping views of the downtown skyline. Unlike city parks, Vista Hermosa is maintained by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.
Echo Park Lake, 1911
Courtyard Commodity
David Witmer likely witnessed Los Angeles’ phenomenal growth and the development and parceling of his family 500-acre tract called Crown Hill. His work demonstrates that he saw opportunities and a need to house a growing working class in housing types that retained the splendor of the natural landscape but was slowly disappearing with the rapid development of Los Angeles in the 1920s.
Within walking distance from Belmont Square are additional examples of vernacular garden complexes Witmer designed for the neighborhood as it was slowly transitioning into a working class one. In stark contrast to traditionally dense apartment complexes that were built on Columbia Avenue, Witmer’s garden complexes highlight the open garden space that each front door opens to. Witmer and his partner Watson, also built several garden apartment complexes on Crown Hill, including the Crownwood Apartments directly across Belmont Square, on Miramar Street.
Today, the complexes he laid throughout Los Angeles are even more cherished as Angelenos yearn for a garden, a park, and relief from the automobile-centric metropolis that surrounds them.
Further
References
Architectural Resource Group, Inc. Garden Apartments of Los Angeles: Historic Context Statement, Los Angeles Conservancy, 2012.
Comer, Virginia L. In Victorian Los Angeles: The Witmer’s of Crown Hill. Los Angeles: Talbot, 1988.
Keylon, Steve. “The Wyvernwood Architects-Witmer and Watson.” Baldwin Hills Village and the Village Green, Accessed March 20, 2016.
Grant Bargain and Sale Deed. Land Records Division, Los Angeles, California, September 17, 1924.
Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Lee, D. and S. Sedalis. “Belmont Square.” California Register of Historical Resources Nomination, California Dept. of Parks and Recreation, 2019.
The Los Angeles Times
“Live in One-Rent the Other,” January 20, 1924.
“New Type of Court Planned: Santa Monica Builder Asks Permits for Duplex Apartment Buildings,” December 27, 1922.
Masters, Nathan. “How LA Lost One of Its Earliest Parks,” KCET: Lost LA, June 14, 2013, Accessed May 1, 2021.
Masters, Nathan. “LA Once Had Cable Cars, Too,” KCET: Lost LA, December 27, 2012, Accessed June 16, 2018.
Rice, Christina. “Second Street Cable Railway,” On Bunker Hill: A Lost Neighborhood Found, July 14, 2008, Accessed June 16, 2018.
Sorrel, Tanya et al. Historic Resources Survey of the Westlake Recovery Redevelopment Area. Los Angeles, 2009.