Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddy87
Thanks for the help...I haven't had any luck with this particular church there's no info on the architect or construction firm no other photographs besides the usc b&w and a few google street view pictures from the early 2000s..I know it looks kinda rough ...but it's really sad that another part of la history will most likely be demolished pretty soon..the city posted a demolition date bill on the corner entrance last march but they haven't done anything yet....
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It's too bad about that church. There were
plans to save it, but apparently they
came to naught some time ago.
In the 1924 photo of the church that
HossC posted, the building at far left, which shares some design elements with
the church, caught my attention:
CHS-9054 @
USCDL
Here it is a little closer. Today it is the African-American Unity Center at
944 W. 53rd Street:
Would you believe it was built between September and October 1918 by the government as a barrack for military
trainees at USC? That's what the evidence points to. Check it out . . . .
September 14, 1918,
Los Angeles Herald @
CDNC
Constructing barracks for 850 men in 17 days turned out to be a little optimistic:
October 29, 1918,
Los Angeles Herald @
CDNC
When the war ended two weeks later, the barracks were no longer needed:
May 13, 1919,
Los Angeles Herald @
CDNC
This is the May 28, 1919, building permit to move a 30' x 60', two-story barrack from what is now the USC campus to
5308 S. Vermont for the Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church. According to the 1922 Sanborn Map, 3717 University
Avenue (now Trousdale Parkway) would have been at the NW corner of Exposition Blvd., across from Exposition Park:
LADBS
Here's a reference to the church buying a barrack in 1919 (Santa Barbara Avenue, now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.,
is on the south side of Exposition Park, and Exposition Blvd. runs along the north side of the park, so perhaps the
article's author got the streets mixed up):
July 10, 1920,
Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL
Here, as 5310 S. Vermont, is the old barrack on the 1922 Sanborn (north is at the left):
ProQuest via LAPL
When the now-abandoned church was built on the corner of Vermont and 53rd, the old barrack was moved around the
corner to 944 W. 53rd Street, as shown on the October 1, 1923 building permit excerpts below. Please note that the
building is getting stucco on three sides and a brick veneer front:
LADBS
Here's a c. 1919 photo showing boarded-up barracks on what was then known as University Avenue at USC.
Please note the size of the side windows:
USC
Now let's check the side windows on 944 W. 53rd Street . . . I'd say that's a pretty close match:
Google Aerial
The building seems to have stucco on three sides, and we've already seen the brick veneer front in the 1924 photo:
Google Aerial
The building opposite the alley from the Unity Center looks like it could have been one of those 30' x 120' barracks for
sale in the 1919 ad above, minus the house-like front on 53rd Street:
Google Aerial
Henry M. Patterson, who is said to have designed many
Presbyterian churches in Southern California, was
the architect of the Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church (see under MODERN EDIFICE below). Perhaps he
also supervised the makeover that the old barrack received when it was moved around the corner to make
room the the big church:
September 16, 1924,
Los Angeles Times @ ProQuest via LAPL