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South Plymouth Boulevard
400 block



400 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 40 and, originally, all of Lot 39; currently Lot 40 and the northerly 37.84' of Lot 39
  • Built in 1918; BPs for house and garage issued 4-25-1918
  • Original commissioner: hardware and metals supplier Howard J. Schoder
  • Architect: Hunt & Burns (Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns)
  • Contractor: Claus G. Nordquist
  • Schoder remained at 400 until not long after his daughter Pauline was married in the house on December 18, 1946. It would be sold to the newly appointed president of U.S.C., aviation attorney Fred D. Fagg







403 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 7 and northerly 40' of Lot 8
  • Built in 1925; BPs for house and garage issued 1-29-1925
  • Original commissioner: William G. Young, president of Young's Market Company
  • Architect: Clarence J. Smale
  • Contractor: Chisholm, Fortine & Meikle
  • Young stayed only briefly before leaving for 132 South Hudson Avenue in Hancock Park; 403 South Plymouth was sold to Lionel T. Barneson, president of General Petroleum Corporation. Barneson was in residence by 1927







420 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; southerly 62.16' of Lot 39, originally part of the property of 400 South Plymouth
  • Built in 1958/1959; BP for house and attached garage issued 9-10-1958
  • Original commissioner: builders W. A. Lundeberg & Son (William A. Lundeberg and Harry L. Lundeberg)
  • Contractor: W. A. Lundeberg & Son
  • House sold before completion to real estate investor George B. Bliss, who very soon resold it to retired wholesale fruit and produce dealer John S. Arena, who was moving from 515 South Hudson Avenue in Hancock Park
  • The Lundebergs were among several developers who capitalized on original Windsor Square properties that were being subdivided, sometimes, as in the case of 420, on previously unoccupied land, or on which larger houses had stood. Their other Windsor Square projects include 355 South Irving Boulevard, 4665 West Fourth Street, 602 and 606 South Lucerne Bouelvard, and 4518 West Sixth Street






424 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 85' of Lot 38
  • Built in 1920
  • Original commissioner: Gertrude M. Goldberg, wife of Harry S. Goldberg, proprietor of the downtown women's clothier Swelldom
  • Architect and contractor: Frank L. Meline
  • BP for garage issued 6-20-1919 per the Department of Building and Safety; per Southwest Builder and Contractor of 4-12-1920, the house contract was given to Meline on October 15, 1919, and the project completed on 3-20-1920







425 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 9 and southerly 60' of Lot 8
  • Built in 1917/1918; BPs for house and garage issued 8-7-1917
  • Original commissioner: William Jerome Toomey of New York, as a winter home
  • Architect and contractor: The Frank Meline Company
  • Southwest Builder and Contractor of 3-29-1918 reported that Meline had signed the contract on 8-2-1917 and that the project was completed on 3-20-1918
  • In 1924, Toomey sold the house to wholesaler Alfred T. Kingsbaker, whose mother, sister, and two brothers—Alfred's business partners in Kingsbaker Brothers produce—moved in. Alfred was still living at 425 when he was instantly killed—and his wife Selma, to whom he had been married at Las Vegas in 1960, critically injured—after he lost control of his car near Santa Barbara on 7-1-1969




The Los Angeles Times of 8-12-1917 featured a rendering
of 425 South Plymouth accompanied by a description of the house
as being of the Italian Renaissance style and of hollow-tile construction
 with sandstone trim. Plans called for a central two-story solarium with an
art-glass dome. An advertisement in the Times on 2-17-1924, below,
gave further details; the paper used the same picture on 6-8-1924
at the time of the sale to businessman Alfred T. Kingsbaker.







434 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 85' of Lot 37 and southerly 15' of Lot 38
  • Built in 1919; BP for house issued 6-4-1919; for garage 9-20-1919
  • Original commissioner: Dr. Wayland A. Morrison
  • Architect: Meyer & Holler, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Building Company
  • Contractor for house: The Milwaukee Building Company; for garage: Dr. Wayland A. Morrison
  • In something of a local social merger, Dr. Morrison had married Lucile Philips, a daughter of Lee Allen Philips of 4 Berkeley Square, in New York in late 1917 just before he was sent overseas for war service. On Major Morrison's return to Los Angeles in March 1919, the couple began building 434 South Plymouth, a commodious dwelling for a young couple, one perhaps financed by the bride's very rich father as a wedding present. (Dr. Morrison's parents, Dr. and Mrs. Norman H. Morrison, lived at 1263 West Adams Street. Young Doctor Morrison would take over his father's duties at the Santa Fe hospital in Boyle Heights and was duly elected chief surgeon of the Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital Association in September 1921)
  • Dr. Morrison was issued BPs for numerous alterations during the 1920s and '30s; among them were the addition of a sleeping porch in 1921, an addition to the north-side wing in 1924, something curiously described as a "children's garage" in 1926, and visually most evident in terms of the house's façade, the addition of a room over the porte cochère in 1928
  • The house was offered for sale in early 1940 when Dr. Morrison moved to Duarte; classified advertisements read "owner will sacrifice" for $27,500. The purchaser was Lyman R. Martineau


As seen under construction in the Los Angeles Times on 9-21-1919







435 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 10
  • Built in 1916/1917; BP for house issued 7-27-1916; for garage 2-1-1917
  • Original commissioner: real estate developer Ofield A. Vickrey as, before resale in 1918, his own home
  • Architect: De Remer & Hewitt (Joseph B. De Remer and Henry H. Hewitt)
  • Sold to J. L. McIvar, who in turn sold it to oil operator Friend Martin Aiken of Tulsa in the summer of 1920. Mr. Aiken had just that May married, at the age of 65, 33-year-old Annette Miller of Chicago. Mr. Aiken died in the house on 6-1-1929; his widow, née Annette Smith, married 57-year-old Michel Clemenceau, son of the late French premier Georges Clemenceau, in July 1931. The Clemenceaus retained 435 South Plymouth Boulevard into the 1930s
  • Later occupants of 435 South Plymouth included William E. Warters, who had become a stockbroker after retiring from acting in silent films. He died at home on August 29, 1953 


As seen in the Los Angeles Times on 7-11-1920







441 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot C of the original combined Lots 11 and 12 subdivided roughly into thirds after the 1965 demolition of 449 South Plymouth
  • Built in 1971; BP for house and attached garage issued 3-8-1971
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor and insurance executive Lee E. McIntyre
  • Architect: Richard Palmer
  • Contractor: Lee E. McIntyre







444 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 36 and southerly 15' of Lot 37
  • Built in 1917; BP for house issued 4-28-1917; for garage 6-18-1917
  • Original commissioner: retired lumberman Harvey L. Deardorff
  • Architect: Meyer & Holler, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Building Company
  • Contractor: The Milwaukee Building Company
  • The Los Angeles Times of 5-30-1935 reported the death in New York the night before of "society leader" Mrs. Harvey L. Deardorff; her widower, now 65, was remarried in July 1936 to 36-year-old Alta Bird. The new Mr. and Ms. Deardorff remained at 444 South Plymouth; after his death on 8-8-1954, the family retained possession until 1957. The house remained on the market for much of that year before selling; advertisements noted that landscaping was by noted nurseryman Paul Howard
  • As of 2023, 444 South Plymouth Boulevard has been the subject of a makeover preserving its streetside suburban charm with behind it attractive, contemporary design rendered by June Street Architecture. Images of the firm's renovation are here 


As featured in the Los Angeles Times on 5-27-1917







447 South Plymouth Boulevard

  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot B of the original combined Lots 11 and 12 subdivided roughly into thirds after the 1965 demolition of 449 South Plymouth
  • Built in 1967; BP for house and attached garage issued 11-28-1966
  • Original commissioner: architect Stanley A. Moe as his own residence
  • Architect: Stanley A. Moe
  • Contractor: Robert B. Coleman
  • The Moe family still owned the house as of July 2011






449 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lots 11 and 12
  • Built in 1917; BP for house issued 11-4-1916; for garage 3-3-1917
  • Original commissioner: oilman and automobile dealer Robert J. Gaffney
  • Architect: Meyer & Holler, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Building Company
  • Contractor: The Milwaukee Building Company
  • Gaffney added a "garden pavilion" per a BP issued 5-15-1917
  • According to items in Southwest Contractor of 7-8-1916 and Building and Engineering News of 7-12-1916, the architecture firm Plummer & Feil (Charles F. Plummer and Joseph L. Feil) and contractor H. W. Charlton & Company (Harold W. Charlton) had been awarded the Gaffney project before the Milwaukee Building Company secured the contract
  • House demolished 1964; demolition BP issued 12-7-1964
  • Replaced with 441, 447, and 455 South Plymouth
Images of 449 South Plymouth Boulevard are elusive; a hint
of its visage appears in a reproduction of an illustration in an article
featuring the Milwaukee Building Company in the Los Angeles Times on
10-1-1916, above. Glimpses of 449 also appear in the 1923 comedy short
The Kid Reporter, featuring child star Baby Peggy (below), and in the 1947
Red Skelton comedy Merton of the Movies, seen in the title illustration
here. Could it be that the concrete lions of 449 were saved and
moved to the nearby house at 629 South Lucerne Boulevard?








455 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot A of the original combined Lots 11 and 12 subdivided roughly into thirds after the 1965 demolition of 449 South Plymouth
  • Built in 1971; BPs for house and garage issued 1-14-1971
  • Original commissioner: Edgar W. Spinney Jr.
  • Architect: Chester Manley
  • Engineer: Barry L. Barron
  • Spinney had built the very similar 410 South Lucerne in 1969


On offer in the Los Angeles Times of 3-11-1990







456 South Plymouth Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 35
  • Built in 1919/1920; BP for house at the initial address of 454 South Plymouth issued 8-9-1919; for garage, 4-7-1920, also at "454"
  • Original commissioner: clothing manufacturer Henry W. Louis, partner in the Brownstein-Louis Company, per its advertisements producers of "'Stronghold' overalls, khaki, corduroy and work pants, 'Hendon' shirts, night gowns, [and] pajamas"
  • Architect: Meyer & Holler, a.k.a. the Milwaukee Building Company
  • Contractor: The Milwaukee Building Company
  • Mr. Louis, a widow, moved his mother and two siblings into 456 from 669 Westlake Avenue. Mrs. Louis died in the house in June 1928; around the same time, Henry married divorcée Cora Ullman and moved into her Paul R. Williams house down the street at 523 South Plymouth Boulevard
  • House sold by Louis to Charles J. Thomas, general manager of the men's clothier Foreman & Clark
  • Original garage demolished 1957. Demolition BP issued 8-1-1957; BP for new garage issued same day







Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT; John Bengtson/Silent Locations; MGM