FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO WINDSOR SQUARE, CLICK HERE

Lorraine Boulevard
600 block




601 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 100' of Lot 111
  • Built in 1932; BPs for house and garage issued 9-19-1932
  • Original commissioner: rancher and investor William Henry Collins
  • Architect: Paul Revere Williams
  • Contractor: O'Neal & Son (Birch and Dwain O'Neal)
  • Crime in central Los Angeles has always been a problem: On 1-3-1938, the Times reported that "Furs, jewelry and silverware valued at approximately $15,000 were reported stolen from the home of Mrs. William H. Collins, 601 South Lorraine Boulevard, by burglars who entered through a rear window." The Collinses spent a good deal of time at their property near Sanger; it is not unlikely that the burglary was due to the propensity of social chroniclers to write details of the comings and goings of Windsor Square and Hancock Park residents, such as an item that appeared in "Beau Peep Whispers" in the Times on 8-11-1935: "Answering the call of the high Sierras [sic] are the William H. Collins [sic], whose beautiful white Georgian home on Lorraine Boulevard has been closed for the past few weeks...." 
  • The Collins family was in residence at 601 until 1959, after which the house remained unoccupied for seven years. Helen Collins died in Los Angeles on 7-31-1963, age 74; William Collins died in Los Angeles on 9-27-1964, age 84
  • Mr. and Mrs. Lee Chase bought the house in 1966. The Chase family still retained ownership when the property was placed on the market in March 2024 asking $5,488,000


A detail of the Collins house is seen in an image by Bruce W. Talamon from the monograph
Paul R. Williams Architect: A Legacy of Style, by the designer's
granddaughter, Karen E. Hudson.







611 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 55' of Lot 112 and southerly 25' of Lot 111
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 3-30-1923
  • Original commissioner, architect, and contractor: Preston S. Wright Company, for resale. Wright built 611 within months of his projects at 621 and 627 just to its south and 626 across the street






612 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 100' of Lot 119
  • Built in 1919; BPs for house and garage issued 7-7-1919
  • Original commissioners: John H. W. and Lillian R. Myers
  • Architect and contractor: The Frank Meline Company


As seen in an advertisement for the Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company in the May 1920 issue of the
trade journal The Architect and Engineer; note the example of an original Windsor Square lamp
 standard, the bases of which are still in use in Tract 1390 though now with single fixtures. 







621 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; southerly 50' of Lot 112 and northerly 30' of Lot 113
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 2-17-1923
  • Original commissioner, architect, and contractor: Preston S. Wright Company, for resale. Wright built 621 within months of his projects at 611 and 627 on either side and 626 across the street
  • Currently the Official Residence of the Consul General of Thailand







626 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 85' of Lot 118 and southerly 5' of Lot 119
  • Built in 1922; BPs for house and garage issued 11-26-1922
  • Original commissioner, architect, and contractor: Preston S. Wright Company, for resale. Wright built 626 within months of his projects across the street at 611, 621, and 627
  • Sold to Helen O'Rourke in 1924


As seen in the Los Angeles Times on 4-27-1924 at the time of its sale to Helen O'Rourke







627 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; southerly 75' of Lot 113 and northerly 5' of Lot 114
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 1-23-1923
  • Original commissioner, architect, and contractor: Preston S. Wright Company, for resale. Wright built 627 within months of his projects at 621 and 611 just to its north and 626 across the street







637 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Southerly 100' of Lot 114
  • The original house at 637 Lorraine Boulevard was designed by architect Frank M. Tyler for real estate investor Matthew P. Gilbert and built circa 1910 at 501 South Normandie Avenue. It was Gilbert's own home until it was acquired by the Kress House Moving Company and moved to Windsor Square in 1925 and put on the rental market. (Relocation BPs for house and garage were issued 9-10-1925 and signed by Katherine Craig Robishaw, secretary at Kress.) The house was moved again in 1980 to 600 South Rossmore Avenue, where it remains (relocation BP for house issued 4-14-1980)
  • The house currently at 637 Lorraine (seen above) was built in 1998 (BP issued 6-10-1998)


Real estate investor Matthew P. Gilbert is seen in his Chalmers in front of the house he built at the
southwest corner of Fifth and Normandie and occupied as his own home. It was later acquired
by master house mover George R. Kress and relocated to 637 Lorraine in Windsor Square
in 1925; at one time reportedly the property of J. Paul Getty, in 1980 it was moved
to the southeast corner of Sixth and Rossmore in Hancock Park where it remains.





Illustrations: Private Collections; Harvard Design Magazine; LAT;
The Architect and Engineer