Visual Materials

Biltmore Hotel under construction, Pershing Square, Los Angeles

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Description: A panoramic photograph (30 x 10 inches) showing the Biltmore Hotel under construction on South Olive Street, and Pershing Square (a public park) between 5th and 6th streets, 1922. The image is an overhead view, taken from the air by the Aerograph Company.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1922.
Call number: photPAN 148
Creator: Aerograph Co. (Los Angeles, Calif.)(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Ellie and Bill MacMullin, June 2021.
Restrictions: Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Biltmore Hotel under construction, Pershing Square, Los Angeles. 1922

Visual Materials

A slightly elevated view of Pershing Square in Los Angeles, with the Biltmore Hotel under construction at the far side, at the corner of 5th and Olive. Pershing Square has numerous trees and an open area in the center with a fountain. The street on the right, South Hill, is lined with parked automobiles, and the sidewalks are busy with pedestrians. Writing in white in lower left corner reads "The Aerograph Co."

photCL 470 (059)

Watercolor rendering of Central Park (Pershing Square), Los Angeles, approximately 1910

Visual Materials

Watercolor rendering by artist J. F. Dupre for the revitalization of and improvements to Central Park (Pershing Square) in downtown Los Angeles. The design is from the architecture firm of Parkinson and Bergstrom, who devised a new landscape plan for the park area bordered by Olive, Hill, 5th and 6th Streets, around 1910. Central Park was created in downtown Los Angeles in 1866, and experienced multiple changes to its design. The rendering depicts the plan to change the park by arranging it in an axial formation with wider paths to accommodate increasing traffic, a large fountain as the focal point of the intersections, balustrades at the entrances, and concrete coping surrounding the park. The plan was implemented and the park remained in this arrangement for decades. During World War I, the park was the scene of soldier receptions and speeches, and in 1918 the park was renamed "Pershing Square" after General John J. Pershing.

arch0001

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Parks - Pershing Square

Manuscripts

2 items: tear sheet of two articles in Downtown News, 9/1/1986, "The bad boys arrive" (Pershing Square designers), "Democracy in Pershing Square" (editorial) ; LAT clip, Sam Hall Kaplan (architecture critic) column for 9/2/1986, "New hope for historic Pershing Square."

mssLAT

Pershing Square West from Hill Street

Visual Materials

A view of Pershing Square/ 6th Street Park with a boy in the foreground.

photCL Pierce 00261

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Aerograph, Pershing Square, Biltmore under construction, Los Angeles

Visual Materials

photCL 402, photCL 470, photCL Whitt

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Hotels - Los Angeles

Manuscripts

Approx. 12 items: material on the Nadeau Hotel / Nadeau Block (constructed in 1882); original program, "Fifth Annual Dominos Dinner Dance, 'Cocoanut Grove,' The Ambassador, Los Angeles," 4/22/1935 ; LAT article copy, 1/13/1936, "Rediscovering Los Angeles," on the United States Hotel, built in 1866 ; two LAT article copies on the razing of the Bella Union Hotel (a.k.a. St. Charles Hotel), 1940; brochure, "The Biltmore Hotel..." ca. 1975; luncheon menu / program, Hotel Bonaventure 5th anniversary, 3/3/1982.

mssLAT

Biltmore Hotel under construction, Pershing Square, Los Angeles

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Biltmore Hotel under construction, Pershing Square, Los Angeles. 1922

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