The only major building constructed in Downtown LA between the Great Depression and World War 2, the Eastern Columbia is regarded as the best example of Art Deco architecture in the whole city.
Although at first it housed department stores, the building has seen diverse uses in its many years of existence including standing to protect thousands of lives against an ancient and terrible plague.
Department Store Jewel of Downtown LA
The Eastern Columbia Building, designed by Claud Beelman, opened on September 12, 1930 at 849 St Broadway after only 9 months of construction, costing $1.25 million.
It served as the new headquarters and 39th store for Eastern Columbia, Inc. a department store company founded by Polish immigrants Adolph and Henry Sieroty. The building’s 4-sided Gothic clock tower, which chimes every quarter-hour, was exempt from the city’s then 150 ft height limit (46 m) in order to reach a total height of 264 ft (80 m) and reflects the company’s beginning as a clock shop.
On December 12, 1947, Eastern Columbia opened its annex on Hill St, directly behind the main store at Broadway and in 1950 the store enveloped the whole side of the block from Broadway to Hill Streets.
The White Plague
In 1950, Los Angeles DTLA had to deal with the return of tuberculosis. Many people unknowingly were infected by this disease, which is caused by a germ, passes from person to person and can occur at any age, although it is primarily found in adults. The year before, it had taken the lives of 926 poor souls, and settled in 2885 people, withering their purchasing and productive power. The city also lost more than $12,000,000 to care, treat and control tuberculosis.
The city devised a plan: 3 million LA county citizens would get X-ray chest examinations to try and find the plague, the biggest survey ever in America with an estimated cost of $1,908,000. The non-profit organization called the Los Angeles County X-Ray Survey Foundation was launched for the battle.
The war against the white plague began on March 22, 1950, with the Eastern Columbia Annex having the first X-ray unit installed among 8 that day. The goal was to take 40 units into all of the county’s business and residential districts, some meant to stay temporarily locations and others permanently, where residents 15 years of age and older who frequented these areas could be tested. A few units even went into industrial districts and large manufacturing plants.
By April 9, Eastern Columbia had managed to give more than 3000 X-rays, including of their 750 employees, and also promoted the program to customers. For this they were lauded by the LAC X-Ray Survey Foundation. By August 1, when Eastern Columbia got its X-ray unit removed, there had 773,189 X-ray tests in the county.
Closing the Brass Doors
Sadly, the Eastern Columbia department store folded in 1957 so that the company could debut in the credit industry through a subordinate called the Crown Finance Corp.
However, some of the affiliated stores in California were untouched, and Eastern Columbia Inc also kept offices for customer service in the mezzanine floor with all the other floors opened for lease. The entire building was remade into office space aimed at the wholesale apparel industry, and later government and union offices.
The Eastern Columbia Lofts
CB Richard Ellis placed the building for sale on May 2003 with a listing price of $24 million, and it was bought by the KOR Group on December 2003. They subsequently renovated the building into 147 condos, with Killefer Flammang Architects.
This project has earned several awards, including the California Construction Magazine’s Best Redevelopment in 2007, McGraw Hill’s Best Redevelopment of ’07 Award, the 2007 Multi-Housing News Adaptive Reuse Award, & the 2008 Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award. It also participates in the Mills Act Historic Property Contracts program.
Actor Johnny Depp acquired 5 Eastern Columbia penthouses in 2007 with a combined 11,500 square feet (1,070 m2) of space. Billionaire Ronald Burkle sold a 3-story penthouse in the building for $2.5 million, one of the highest prices for a residential space in the Historic Core district.
But Depp listed all of his penthouses for sale at $12.78 million in September 2016, selling the final one for $1.82 million in November 2017. The Eastern Columbia continues to offer lofts to LA residents.
For more information visit: easterncolumbia.com
