Building History

The A. G. Bartlett Building was designed in 1911 by well-known Los Angeles architects John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom in the Beaux Arts style. Since Spring Street was the heart of the city’s financial district (the “Wall Street of the West”) the ground floor of the building was initially leased by the German-American Savings Bank and fitted out as a tellers hall by the Chicago based architects, Weary and Company. Later, the premises were taken over by the Security Pacific Bank who installed state of the art pneumatic tubes, vaults in the basement and a suite of offices for the directors on the mezzanine level. Colored marble and glass mosaics are still extant on the ground floor, and fragments of black and white “subway” pattern flooring remain on the mezzanine level. Between 1911 and 1922, the upper floors were tenanted by the Union Oil Company, which eventually moved to larger offices at 617 Seventh Street.

According to City records, the A.G. Bartlett Building underwent a major facelift in 1937 when many other downtown buildings such as the J.W. Robinson store on Seventh were also renovated. The style adopted was Art-Deco ‘Moderne’ and the lower storeys were refaced in limestone with a frieze depicting industry, agriculture and transportation over the Seventh Street entrance, second floor spandrels and a geometric, patterned sidewalk which is still visible around the building’s exterior (compare the more elaborate, colored terrazzo sidewalk around the Eastern Columbia Building). In the 1951 movie “D.O.A”, the lobby of the building is used as a rendezvous; in the background, a tobacco counter is clearly visible where the fire control room now stands, a feature that was not uncommon in office buildings of the time. At that time, the ground floor was occupied by Rush Drug Co., Hull’s Grill and Lamar’s.

In 2002, the building was converted to residential use under the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance and now comprises 139 condominiums, limited parking for residents, and some ground floor retail outlets.

Written by Andrew Taylor
Bartlett Architecture and Décor Committee