The US National Register Los Angeles Plaza Historic District comprises 42 acres inside the boundaries of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument in downtown Los Angeles. The National Register’s district is bounded by Spring Street, Macy Street, Alameda Street, and Arcadia Street.
The district encompasses La Iglesia Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles (more simply known as the Plaza Church), Olvera Street, Plaza Kiosko, and the Victorian-era buildings to the east, south and west of the church.
From the National Register Nomination form: (
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El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic District, the area where Los Angeles was founded and the hub of its growth during the Hispanic and American (19th Century) eras, retains a rich composite group of buildings as evidence of the blending ethnic groups and cultures which founded this City and shaped its subsequent growth.
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Today's Plaza area is the living composite story of Los Angeles' growth from Indian times prior to 1781 through Spanish, Mexican and American periods to become the nation's largest city on the Pacific basin.
The Plaza area of Los Angeles offers a unique opportunity for telling the story of the founding and growth of the nation's third-largest city. This 42-acre area with its historic structures annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors coming from every state in the Union and most of the nations of the world, as well as a never-ending stream of local residents, particularly school children.
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2) VICKREY/BRUNSWIG BUILDING
Location: 501 North Main Date: 1888 Owner: County of Los Angeles
The Vickrey/Brunswig Building is situated on the corner of Republic Street and North Main. The building was constructed by Ofield Vickrey in 1888 as a commercial endeavor. According to a Los Angeles Herald in 1888, R.B. Young was the architect of the then 20-room, $85,000 building. Lot dimensions were 58.10 feet on North Main, 96.95 feet on Republic and 106.71 feet along the south wall of the Plaza House. The building had three stores on North Main with a passageway behind and two additional stores running in a north-south direction behind it which opened on Sonora Street (Republic Street). The passageway contained an elevator and a stairway. Another stairway rose from the North Main Street entrance. A huge skylight ran from east to west on the roof.
The five-story brick and concrete building (with basement) is four bays wide and seven bays deep. It is painted beige with brown trim imitating the color scheme of the Plaza House next door. It has a recessed entrance with double doors which have a large double-pane transom on the north side.
Each story of the Vickrey/Brunswig Building is defined by its own distinctive window type. The second and fourth story windows are segmentally arched with scrollwork within the arch. Third-story windows are rectangular with turned pilaster-like mullions and dentilled lintels. Fifth-story windows are round arched. The bays on either end of the front have triple windows; the center bays are double. Each bay is framed by an engaged pilaster with ornamental capitals. The window pattern is repeated on the building's south side.
Like the Plaza House, much of the Vickrey/Brunswig ‘s original ornament was removed for fear of earthquake hazard in the early 1970’s. Its ground floor molded pilasters were removed as well as the original bracketed cornice, decorative panelled frieze, dentils, and roof cresting. Heavy molding on the eaves and corner pilasters were removed. The centrally located triangular pediments, which appear in early photographs, were removed also. The name of the building has changed three times, and accordingly the title in the triforium of the pediment: in 1888, "Vickrey Building," in 1905, "F.W, Braun," and later, "Brunswig."
A photograph taken in 1905 shows all of the north elevation windows bricked in, possibly to create a continuous wall surface for advertising, as appears in the photo for the F.W. Braun Company (photo 12). Existing north elevation windows vary. Five of the seven bays have been altered and are rectangularly shaped with 6/1 lights, plain lug sills and plain lintels. Two of the seven bays have been bricked in and appear to have been segmentally arched with plain lintels and sills. The building is currently used for storage purposes by the County. It was abandoned in July of 1976 due to possible hazard from its asbestos insulation and unreinforced brick.”