FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO WINDSOR SQUARE, CLICK HERE

South Lucerne Boulevard
400 block




400 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 56 and, originally, the northerly 65' of Lot 55
  • Built in 1914; BPs for house and garage issued 4-2-1914
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor and dealer Daniel T. Althouse, perhaps intended at first as his own home but apparently unoccupied by him
  • Architect: Frank M. Tyler
  • Contractor: Daniel T. Althouse
  • Althouse died at his recently built home at 2125 Fourth Avenue on 11-6-1914; apparently rented or unoccupied in the meantime, 400 South Lucerne was reported by the Los Angeles Times as having been sold by Althouse's estate in March 1918 to oil operator Elmer H. Akin. Akin appears to have been divorced from Laura B. Akin and, perhaps inspired by Edward Doheny, remarried to a former telephone operator, Laura Gunnison; it was, however, the first Mrs. Akin and her daughter Alva who would occupy the house until 1920. Elmer Akin died in 1919; the auction of 400 South Lucerne  may have been part of the settlement of his estate, which also involved a large stake in the American Well & Prospecting Company


Large advertisements leading up to the April 29, 1920, auction of 400 and its contents appeared in local
newspapers that month; the high bidder was John C. Adams. There would be at least three more
owners of the house by 1940. While a 1925 addition over the north-side porch was not an
altogether harmonious one, the house does retain the charm of old Windsor Square.







401 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 41
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 3-5-1923
  • Original commissioner: Alexander D. Chisholm, who was around this time forming a contracting, building and real estate development company with William H. Fortine and Evan L. Meikle; presumably done on spec. Chisholm, Fortine & Meikle went on to build a number of other residences in Los Angeles during the '20s, including, commencing the same month, 626 South Windsor
  • Architect: listed as Alexander D. Chisholm; though not himself a licensed practitioner, his firm, like other similar organizations, most likely employed draftsmen to execute designs or subcontracted them out to other architects






409 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 42
  • Built in 1920; BPs for house and garage issued 8-11-1920 for the address 411 South Lucerne
  • Original commissioner: industrial equipment supplier Frederick C. Kingston
  • Architect: Robert D. Jones in partnership with Sanson M. Cooper acting as contractor
  • Mrs. Kingston, née Evelyn Cummer, died at 409 South Lucerne on 5-3-1932
  • The Kingstons' daughter, also named Evelyn, had married Donald L. Greenwood at 409 on 2-19-1928. Mrs. Greenwood gave birth to a son on 10-30-1931, by which time she and her husband were separated and she was again living at 409. After she married Albert B. McKee Jr. in Woodside on 6-1-1935, the child took his stepfather's surname
  • On 10-3-1936, Frederick Kingston married Mrs. Bruce Macneill in Piedmont; the couple moved into 524 South Windsor Boulevard and left 409 South Lucerne to Mr. and Mrs. McKee
  • Five-year-old Kingston McKee and his neighborhood friend, Mollie Lou Shea of 455 South Windsor Boulevard, ingested ant paste in the backyard of 409 on 3-18-1937. They recovered quickly after their stomachs were pumped at the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital
  • The McKees decided to drastically alter the original appearance of 409 in 1940; hiring in-demand architect Gordon B. Kaufmann, Mr. McKee was issued an alteration permit for the house by the Department of Building and Safety on 6-5-1940 reading "modernize exterior—remove porte cochere—change roof lines, add shutters at wds—new shingle roof. Hood over door etc."
  • The McKees put 409 South Lucerne on the market in late 1941 and would be moving to Arcadia


The original façade and roofline of 409 South Lucerne Boulevard as designed
by Robert D. Jones in 1920; at right is the south gable of 401.







410 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; northerly 65' of Lot 55, a subdivision of the original property of 400 South Lucerne
  • Built in 1969; BPs for house and garage issued 6-25-1969
  • Original commissioner: Edgar W. Spinney Jr., apparently for resale
  • Spinney would build the very similar 455 South Plymouth in 1971






417 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 43
  • Built in 1922/1923; per Southwest Builder and Contractor of 9-29-1922, first BPs for house and garage issued that month
  • Original commissioner: oil operator William F. Dolke
  • Architect and contractor: Southwest Builder and Contractor of 9-29-1922 indicates that builder Charles Schubert was responsible for the project; a later BP, issued 3-7-1923 to correct the project valuation, lists George R. Smith as designer and William F. Dolke as the contractor
  • William Dolke died on 12-16-1944 while still living at 417; Mrs. Dolke remained until at least 1948







418 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 54 and southerly 10' of Lot 55
  • Built in 1915; BPs for house and garage issued 9-1-1915
  • Original commissioner: Louis B. Martin
  • Architect and contractor: The Frank Meline Company
  • While Louis B. Martin was noted on the BPs for 418 as being reachable in New York, he was still at the time in business in Sioux City


The California idyll of Louis Martin and his wife Sarah, in all of its superlatives, appears to have
ended rather abruptly; "the greatest sale ever held in Los Angeles"—including a very odd
tapestry chair—was advertised in the Los Angeles Times on 10-10-1920. The Martins
appear to have given up their winter home and returned to live permanently
 in Sioux City, at least until Louis died there in 1924. Mrs. Martin
returned to Los Angeles within a few years, eventually
taking up residence at 120 South Plymouth
Boulevard in New Windsor Square.







426 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 53
  • Built in 1916; BP for house issued 3-20-1916; for garage 8-2-1916
  • Original commissioner: Belle C. Bill
  • Architect: Robert D. Farquhar, apparently for the house only
  • Contractor and apparent designer of garage: Huntsberger-Reed Company (the firm of Mrs. Bill's three nearest southerly neighbors, Harold, Ralph, and George Huntsberger)
  • Rented to tire dealer Walter P. Marshall during 1919-1921 as he awaited the completion of his new house around the corner at 322 South Plymouth







427 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 44
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 12-6-1922
  • Original commissioner: building contractor William E. Morrow, for resale
  • Contractor: Morrow & Baer (William E. Morrow and Paul M. Baer)
  • Sold to plumbing and heating contractor John Hokom, who remained for about 20 years, into the mid 1940s; 427 was later the home of Arthur J. Will, chief administrative officer of Los Angeles County from 1951 to 1957, who died in the house on 9-22-1960







432 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 52
  • Built in 1914; BPs for house and garage issued 2-18-1914
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor, developer, and builder Harold K. Huntsberger
  • Architect and contractor: Huntsberger-Reed Company, the principals of which were George E. Huntsberger; two of his four sons, Ralph F. and Harold K. Huntsberger; and his son-in-law, Harold E. Reed
  • Harold Huntsberger was the third son of George E. Huntsberger, head of the family firm, who would build 450 South Lucerne the next year; Harold's next-oldest brother Ralph would build 440 in between the lots of 432 and 450 later in 1914
  • Harold Huntsberger was still living at 432 when he died in Pacific Grove on July 31, 1966







433 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 45
  • Built in 1920; BP for garage issued 6-25-1920; for house 6-26-1920
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor Martin L. Houseman as his own home
  • Architect: George A. Howard Jr.
  • Contractor: Martin L. Houseman
  • Houseman built and moved to 133 Fremont Place in 1924
  • Harry C. Edwards, president of the Continental Building Company, occupied 433 by 1924; he and his wife Alda were enumerated in the 1930 Federal census as still living in the house, renting it, and would remain in residence until 1932
  • Short-term rentals by investment banker Rolland P. Seeley, who was married to the daughter of pioneer Angeleno Benjamin F. Coulter, and Joseph J. Pausner, vice-president of the Pacific Finance Corporation, followed before the house was purchased by real estate and mining man Arthur Rudolf Bishop in 1934
  • Arthur Bishop lived at 433 with his wife Agnes into the late 1940s. It was during their ownership that, as were a number of Windsor Square houses, theirs appeared in an establishing shot in film. In These Three, released on 3-18-1936 and based on Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour, 433 is seen briefly as a bus rolls to stop in front of 441 South Lucerne


As seen in These Three, 1936







440 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 51 and northerly 8' of Lot 50
  • Built in 1914; BP for house issued 6-10-1914; for garage 8-21-1914
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor, developer, and builder Ralph F. Huntsberger
  • Architect: Dennis & Hewitt (Oliver P. Dennis and Henry H. Hewitt)
  • Contractor: The Huntsberger-Reed Company, the principals of which were George E. Huntsberger; two of his four sons, Ralph F. and Harold K. Huntsberger; and his son-in-law, Harold E. Reed
  • Harold Huntsberger built 432 South Lucerne next door to the north the same year; George Huntsberger would build 450 South Lucerne next door to the south in 1915, also employing Dennis & Hewitt


As seen in the Los Angeles Times on 12-27-1914







441 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 46 and the northerly 45' of Lot 47
  • Built in 1920; BP for garage issued 6-26-1920; for house 7-2-1920
  • Original commissioner: banker Richard W. Kirkley
  • Architect and contractor: Arthur R. Kelly
  • Sold within a few years to attorney and securities broker Robert N. Frick
  • The northerly 45' of Lot 47, maintained as a side yard of the residence, is technically reserved as a separate lot; it was originally part of the property of 448 South Arden Boulevard
  • It was during the ownership of the Frick family that, as were a number of Windsor Square houses, 441 South Lucerne appeared, along with 433, in an establishing shot in film. In These Three, released on 3-18-1936 and based on Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour, the façade and doorway of 441 is seen briefly as the residence of Amelia Tilford, the ruling society woman of a small town in Massachusetts. Alma Kruger played Mrs. Tilford. The production also starred Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon, Joel McCrae, Bonita Granville, Marcia Mae Jones, Margaret Hamilton, and Walter Brennan. (Interior scenes were filmed on typically overscaled studio sets)




In film, 441 South Lucerne appears as one of the largest houses
in Lancet, a fictional small Massachusetts town between Boston and
Hadley, in 1936's These Three. Below, Bonita Granville as the malicious
Mary Tilford has arrived at her grandmother's house with her much-
bullied schoolmate Rosalie Wells, played by Marcia Mae Jones.



As seen in June 2019, the front door of 441 South Lucerne is little changed since 1936


As seen in the Los Angeles Times, 1-9-1921






450 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; Lot 49 and southerly 67' of Lot 50
  • Built in 1915/1916; BP for house issued 5-15-1915; for garage 2-19-1916
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor, developer, and builder George E. Huntsberger
  • Architect: Dennis & Hewitt (Oliver P. Dennis and Henry H. Hewitt)
  • Contractor: The Huntsberger-Reed Company, the principals of which were George E. Huntsberger; two of his four sons, Ralph F. and Harold K. Huntsberger; and his son-in-law, Harold E. Reed
  • George Huntsberger died on the third tee at the Wilshire Country Club on 2-25-1925. Mrs. Huntsberger died at 450 on 9-15-1946; the house was put on the market the next year
  • Ralph Huntsberger had built 440 South Lucerne next door in 1914, also employing Dennis & Hewitt; Ralph Huntsberger had built 432 South Lucerne next door to that, also in 1914


The third Huntsberger residence in the 400 block of Lucerne Boulevard was featured prominently
 in the real estate section of the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, March 14, 1915.




Four-fifty South Lucerne Boulevard appeared briefly
in Daddy-Long-Legs starring Mary Pickford and released
on May 11, 1919. Doing little to enhance a solid century-old
design is a level walled terrace installed in late 2015—
seen below—in place of the automobile entrance.



The Huntsberger house appeared in the Los Angeles Evening Express on June 3, 1922







459 South Lucerne Boulevard


  • Tract 2136 addition to Windsor Square; originally Lot 48 and southerly 30' of Lot 47
  • Built in 1941; BP issued 4-23-1941
  • Original commissioner: geologist and U.S.C. professor of petroleum engineering John F. Dodge
  • Architect: C. Raymond Johnson, who had been a professor of architecture at U.S.C.
  • Contractor: A. F. Bridthauer
  • Lots 47 and 48 had once been part of 448 South Arden Boulevard; an outbuilding constructed on that property in the 1920s appears to have become a separate residence (4763 West Fifth Street) in a circa-1954 re-subdivision creating irregular lots for 459 and 4763 out of Lots 48 and the southerly 30' of Lot 47
  • In mid-1954, John F. Dodge sold 459 to Hermes Carlo Fontaine, noted industrial designer and architect at one time associated with Wurdeman & Becket, later head of his own firm
  • Fontaine added a garage to the west side of 459 in 1954; BP issued 8-16-1954
  • Fontaine remained at 459 until about 1970







Illustrations: Private Collection; Water and Power Associates; LAT; LAEE;
John Bengtson/Silent Locations