Greetings all! Marsak here. Remember when I used to look at demo permits and blog about the structures? Good times. I’ll get back to it, I swear. I’ve been completely consumed with this book project the last few months. Big thank-you to Kim who’s been keeping the flame alive here at RIP!
But I saw this today and just had to toss it out there. There’s an Instagram page called southlabuildings, which I love, because I love South Los Angeles so damn much.
And I love this house to an absurd degree. It was listed for sale recently. The listing read in part:
The house was listed, relisted and delisted, so who knows what’s going on with it. There is/was apparently a demo permit issued, as evidenced by this photo, though there’s nothing about the issuance of a demolition permit proper at City Planning or on ZIMAS—
Although at DBS we do have confirmation that they’ve gone through and have had their Plan Check approved, which does not bode well—
So let’s talk a bit about this house. Of course every developer from God-knows-where wants to tear it down—to build a superdense coronavirus hotbox that looks like some preteen’s Jenga tower—and, I might add, without a thought of moving it. Moving it, you say? Who does that? Well you know, it was moved here after all.
That’s right, it came from somewhere else. Figueroa south of downtown used to be full of grand homes, once upon a time (like, say, this one). And Martin Bekins’s house at 1341 South Figueroa St., built in the spring/summer of 1907, was one of them. Martin Bekins is yes, THAT Bekins. Read more about him here and here. Bekins & family stayed in the house until downtown grew up around them and in the early-mid 1920s built something larger and with more property out in Eagle Rock.
The architect of 1341 South Figueroa was John A. Mathis. Mathis came to Los Angeles in 1885 and established the Mathis Construction Company. He built all over the southland. Below is another Mathis house; from what I can tell, it and Bronson are the sole remaining two.
Anyway, after Bekins moved to Eagle Rock in the mid-1920s, the spot at 1341 was needed for something else (Bekins Co. built a commercial structure on the site, which disappeared in the early 1970s, and it’s all Convention Center down there now), so the house was picked up and moved by Welte House Moving Co. in the spring of 1929, where she’s been ever since.
I mean look at the old girl. Not stucco’d, the chimneys are there, all original windows, the porches haven’t been enclosed…incredible. Large corner lot. If ever a home could come back, and be a showplace and a feather in the cap of Los Angeles, it is this one.
So what say ye, Los Angeles?
I went to the house on Bronson on Sunday to check it out. It’s a complete mess on an odd lot next to a giant mega church. Plus every building on that block is some 1 story muli-family dwelling. What’s tragic to me is what the neighborhood has gone through. Butchered, hacked and whacked into this odd mess. As much as I love history and saving the old, this is the first time I am ever agreeing to just tear this down.
Hey Paul——well I agree with everything you say, except for the final sentence (as you might imagine). The house needs a lot of love, but it’s not so far gone that it can’t be brought back. Maybe it’s not a great block, or the best neighborhood for old houses (though there’s some nifty old houses still on 12th, and Edgehill, even a couple on Norton) but I’d say that’s exactly the point of our needing to retain this one; it’s like the last of its kind in the area. A lot of people replying to the Instagram post were all “oh no! I know that house—I drive by it all the time and always notice it” because it’s something of a landmark in those parts. If it vanishes then kids will grow up thinking the area was “born” into hacked n’ whacked, without a touchstone of how it once was.
Such a beautiful diamond in the rough. C’mon someone – step up to the plate and make this ol’ girl beautiful again! Does anyone know anyone who may be interested? Ask around. Let’s don’t let her disappear!