Taft Building | |
 The building as viewed from Hollywood and Vine, 2025 | |
  Location of building in Los Angeles County | |
| Location | 6280 W. Hollywood Blvd. and 1680 North Vine Street, Hollywood, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°06′05″N 118°19′35″W / 34.10139°N 118.32639°W |
| Built | 1923 |
| Architect | Percy A. Eisen, Albert R. Walker |
| Architectural style | neo-Renaissance |
| Part of | Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District (ID85000704) |
| LAHCM No. | 666 |
| Significant dates | |
| Designated CP | April 4, 1985 |
| Designated LAHCM | September 29, 1999 |
Taft Building is a historic twelve-story building at 6280 W. Hollywood Blvd. and 1680 North Vine Street, Hollywood and Vine, in Hollywood, California.
History
[edit]Taft Building was built for A.Z. Taft, Jr. (1889–1941), who purchased the Hollywood Memorial Church for $125,000 ($2.36 million in 2025), tore it down, and commissioned Taft Building on the property.[1] The architecture firm Walker and Eisen, known for the Fine Arts Building, James Oviatt Building, and Beverly Wilshire Hotel, amongst others, designed the building.[2] The building was constructed in 65 days and opened in 1924,[3] making it the first high-rise office tower in Los Angeles.[4]
The building's primary tenants were dentists (including Clark Gable's), doctors, and lawyers,[3] and every Hollywood movie studio had an office in the building, as did Charlie Chaplin, Will Rogers, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and numerous agents, casting companies, and publicists.[1][4]
In 1984, the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District was added to the National Register of Historic Places, with Taft Building listed as a contributing property in the district.[2] In 1999, the building was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #666.[5]
In 2011, Langer Meringoff Properties sold the building for $28.5 million ($40.8 million in 2025) to DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, who then spent an additional $15 million ($21.5 million in 2025) in renovations.[6][7] The building was later purchased by Ocean West Capital Partners for $70 million and in March 2023, Elat Properties purchased it for $28 million ($29.6 million in 2025).[8]
Architecture and design
[edit]Taft Building is L-shaped in plan and made of reinforced concrete clad in brick and ornamented with concrete and terra cotta. The building features a Classical Revival design with entablature that has a decorated frieze and is topped by a heavy bracketed cornice, and the building's upper-story windows are recessed between Corinthian columns.[2]
See also
[edit]- List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
- List of contributing properties in the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Early Los Angeles Historical Buildings (1925 +)". Water and Power Associates. p. 6. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
- ^ a b c "Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. Retrieved June 18, 2024.
- ^ a b Jaak Treiman (2011). A Diplomatic Guide to Los Angeles: Discovering Its Sites and Character. Velak Publishing. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-9835158-0-7.
- ^ a b "The Taft Building". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ "Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) List" (PDF). City of Los Angeles. April 6, 2024.
- ^ Miller, Daniel (10/12/2011) "Hollywood's Historic Taft Building For Sale", The Hollywood Reporter
- ^ "29 Jan 2015, Page C1, C4 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
- ^ Modi, Priyanka (April 4, 2023). "Elat Properties Buys Hollywood Office Building at Discount". The Real Deal. Retrieved June 10, 2023.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Taft Building at Wikimedia Commons