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Lorraine Boulevard
300 block




301 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 93
  • Built in 1910 at 1301 South Western Avenue; BP for house issued 6-27-1910; for garage 9-15-1910
  • Original commissioner: Otto George Wilhelm; according to his 1951 obituary in the Los Angeles Times, the acreage on which 1301 South Western would later stand was acquired by Wilhelm's parents in 1849
  • Builder/contractor: John E. Chatem
  • House and garage moved to 301 Lorraine in 1925 by Wilhelm for continued use as his own home; relocation BP for house issued 10-7-1925. Contractor for relocation: John E. Chatem. Kress House Moving Company in charge of transport. While most relocated houses are placed upon new foundations, the several hundred stones forming the base of 1301 South Western were reportedly marked and then reassembled at 301 Lorraine to receive the relocated dwelling. Wilhelm was issued a BP for a new garage at 301 on 11-13-1925, the builder/contractor being John E. Chatem
  • Having turned 76 two weeks before, Wilhelm died at 301 Lorraine on 1-4-1951






304 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 138 and northerly 20' of Lot 137
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 5-18-1923
  • Original commissioner: Pomona rancher William O. Ross
  • Robert D. Jones in partnership with Sanson M. Cooper acting as contractor; the S. M. Cooper Company also built 316 and 322 just to the south of 304 and 327 across the street
  • Ross remained at 304 until at least 1932
  • Owned by Harry R. and Grace Prince by 1940. The Princes were operators of retail and wholesale women's ready-to-wear businesses; they remained until 1957
  • Mary Courson, who had operated guest houses known as the El Rancho Courson in Palmdale with her late husband Melville, bought 304 in 1957 as a home for herself and her parents, William and Minnie Johnston
  • Mr. Johnston died at 304 on 6-18-1962; Mrs. Johnston died on 12-14-1967
  • Mary Courson still owned 304 when she died on 10-1-1997, ten days from her 98th birthday 






315 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 90' of Lot 94
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 2-19-1923
  • Mechanical engineer J. Roy Hoffman and his wife Hazelle appear to have been the first owners of 315, in residence by early 1924. They remained in the house for over 50 years






316 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; southerly 80' of Lot 137 and northerly 5' of Lot 136
  • Built in 1922; BPs for house and garage issued 7-28-1922
  • Original commissioner: shirt manufacturer Philip A. Newmark 
  • Architect: Robert D. Jones in partnership with Sanson M. Cooper acting as contractor; the S. M. Cooper Company also built 304 and 322 Lorraine on either side of 316 and 327 across the street
  • Newmark was moving from 414 South Irving around the corner, which had been built in 1919 by the same architect and builder
  • Philip Newmark died in the house on 3-3-1924; Rose Newmark would succeed her husband as president of P. A. Newmark & Company
  • After Philip's death, Mrs. Newmark's widowed sister, Bertha Wolfstein, and her son, Henry Wolfstein, moved into 316 with Rose and her sons Allen and Richard Newmark
  • On 11-1-1927, a BP was issued for the expansion of the garage. Bertha Wolfstein, who worked as a real estate broker, appears to have taken charge of business matters pertaining to the house; it was in her name that the permit was issued
  • Rose Newmark died at 316 Lorraine on 3-5-1929
  • By 1934, the house was occupied by insurance executive Milton R. Johnson; he was that year named president of Pacific Indemnity
  • Johnson died in Los Angeles on 1-31-1949; Mrs. Johnson remained at 316 until at least 1963







321 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 70' of Lot 95 and southerly 10' of Lot 94
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 6-2-1923
  • Original commissioner: contractor George Taylor, apparently on spec
  • The house became the home of attorney James A. Dunn of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in 1924; he stayed until moving down the street to 524 Lorraine Boulevard in 1928. The house was being advertised in January 1928 at $35,000; it was sold to retired physician William Evelyn Hopkins and his wife Clara
  • The Hopkinses, who had 321 on the market in late 1937 (for $24,000), were still at 321 at the time of their deaths in Los Angeles, his on 2-5-1940, she on 1-13-1943






322 Lorraine Boulevard

  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; southerly 95' of Lot 136
  • Built in 1924; BPs for house and garage issued 8-12-1924
  • Original commissioner: real estate investor Justus A. Kirby, who had built 454 South Irving in 1920 and 342 South Irving in 1922 and had lived in both
  • Architect: Robert D. Jones in partnership with Sanson M. Cooper acting as contractor; the S. M. Cooper Company also built Kirby's previous two residences as well as 304 and 316 Lorraine just to the north of 322 and 327 across the street
  • Justus Kirby was the son of prosperous southern Illinois farmers who had arrived in Los Angeles by 1919; he had lived with his parents and then with his mother until he was 57 years old, promptly marrying 32-year-old Hildegarde Palmstrom seven months after the elder Mrs. Kirby's death in July 1910. The Kirby's daughter, Sarah, was born in St. Louis in 1917. Kirby died at 322 Lorraine on Christmas Eve 1934, this date according to his headstone in Jerseyville, Illinois (some sources cite 12-26-1934). With her daughter having gone east to Smith, Mrs. Kirby left 322 by 1937 to take an apartment with her sister, Florence Palmstrom, on West 12th Street; she may have retained 322 as a rental property
  • The next occupant of record is commissary contractor Melville C. Threlkeld Jr., who was renting the house by the spring of 1940, remaining until mid-decade when it was purchased by securities broker Edwin L. Harbach and his wife, née Alice McReynolds. Mrs. Harbach was the daughter of Dr. Robert Phillips McReynolds of 18 Berkeley Square; her maternal grandfather was the Reverend Benjamin F. Coulter, who, in addition to his religious calling, had founded the famous Los Angeles department store bearing his name. Still living at 322 Lorraine, Harbach became a member of Coulter's board of directors in 1953
  • The Harbachs remained at 322 Lorraine into at least the mid 1970s







327 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 70' of Lot 96 and southerly 30' of Lot 95
  • Built in 1923; BPs for house and garage issued 3-16-1923
  • Original commissioner: Paula Meyer, wife of Alexander Meyer, as their own home. Mr. Meyer was a retired principal in Meyer Bros., at one time a large local wholesale millinery firm 
  • Architect: Robert D. Jones in partnership with Sanson M. Cooper acting as contractor; the S. M. Cooper company also built 304, 316, and 322 across the street
  • The Meyers remained at 327 until 1939
  • In residence by early 1940 was ophthalmologist Maurice N. Beigelman, who remained until 1961. After seven years as chief of staff of Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, Beigelman was named chief of staff emeritus in 1951






332 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 77.75' of Lot 135
  • Original commissioners: Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Bradshaw
  • Built in 1909 at 606 South Manhattan Place; purchased from Mrs. Bradshaw, now a widow, by George H. Bishop in 1913. The house was moved to 332 Lorraine in 1921 by Bishop for continued use as his own home. Relocation BP for house issued 8-10-1921, with the Kress House Moving Company noted as contractor in charge. The new location originally included the Lot 135 and at least part of Lot 134 (see 340 and 356 Lorraine below)
  • The Bishops' niece, Margaret Dorcas Metcalf, was living with them in the house in 1920 while it was on Manhattan Place (she would soon leave the house to marry banker Charles E. Donnelly; they returned to Windsor Square—to 355 South Plymouth Boulevard—in 1932). George H. Bishop died at 332 on 7-8-1930; Mrs. Bishop, who installed an elevator in 1940 (BP issued 5-14-1940), remained at 332 until she died in Los Angeles in March 1943, after which the Donnellys appear to have inherited the house. The Donnellys, remaining on Plymouth Boulevard, put 332 on the market in the summer of 1945 for $39,500. It was still available, if not being flipped, a year later, for $42,500, classified advertisements describing the property as a "beautiful ¾-acre estate" 
  • By 1952, 332 was acquired by retired theater, vaudeville, and film performer Alexander H. Haagen and his wife Isabelle. (Their son, also Alexander, would later be described by Mike Davis in City of Quartz as "Southern California's major mall builder.") Mr. Haagen died in Los Angeles on 3-8-1953
  • 50' of Lot 134 had been acquired by the owner of 356 Lorraine by 1922 (see below); the balance of Lot 134 as well as 22.25' of Lot 135 were sold off by Mrs. Haagen and became the site of 340 Lorraine in 1956 (see below)
  • Mrs. Haagen was still listed in the 1956 city directory at 332, though in the company of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Downs, the Haagen/Downs relationship not one of employer/servant but otherwise unclear. On 7-23-1956, C. E. Downs was issued a BP for work on an outbuilding, apparently an addition to the garage
  • In the 1960 directory, Mrs. Haagen was listed at 332 with a Robert F. Stewart; the next year, only he was listed. Stewart was at 332 until at least 1973






337 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 50' of Lot 97 and southerly 30' of Lot 96
  • Built in 1920; BPs for house and garage issued 5-24-1920
  • Original commissioner: Mrs. Arthur L. Dudley Warner of New York
  • Architect and contractor: Harry H. Whiteley
  • Mrs. Warner's parents occupied the house during the 1920s; William J. Arkell had been the publisher of Judge and Leslie's Weekly magazines for the 20 years up to 1905, afterwards engaging in mining, coffee, and horse racing. He died in Los Angeles on 12-30-1930; his wife, Minnie, died in Los Angeles on 8-22-1932
  • Arriving at 337 by 1934 was the vice-president—and later president—of Southern California Edison, William C. Mullendore. The complex and accomplished Mullendore was a former Washington apparatchik and attorney, an anti–New Dealer and later a John Bircher as well as an associate of friend-of-McCarthy James W. Fifield. After Mullendore became chairman of Edison's board in 1954 and before retiring in 1959, he tried LSD—before Timothy Leary—announcing that he was "convinced that this drug is a real tool for exploration of consciousness." He lived at 337 until at least 1973; he died in Los Angeles on 12-1-1983






340 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; northerly 50' of Lot 134 and southerly 22.25' of Lot 135
  • Built in 1956/1957; BP issued for house with attached garage 11-28-1955; COO issued 9-19-1957
  • Original commissioner: contractor Herbert Klein as his own residence; he remained until 1967







356 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 133 and southerly 50' of Lot 134
  • Built in 1917; BP for house foundation issued 6-8-1917; for house itself 7-10-1917; for garage 10-18-1917
  • Original commissioner: calendar manufacturer Thomas Dowler Murphy of Red Oak, Iowa, as a winter residence
  • Architect: Thornton Fitzhugh
  • Contractor: The Kling Company (George S., Spencer J., and Wayland H. Kling)
  • On 9-2-1920, Murphy was issued a BP to install a pipe organ
  • Murphy acquired his 50' of Lot 134 by 1922; on 8-15-1922, he was issued a BP to move the garage 30' north onto this parcel
  • Thomas Murphy died in Red Oak on 9-15-1928; his wife, Ina, still in possession of 356, died in Iowa on 11-20-1930
  • It is unclear as to whether the Murphy family retained 356 until the summer of 1937, when it was put on the market and then promptly purchased by Doria Lankershim, first cousin of James Benton Van Nuys of 357 Lorraine across the street (see below)
  • Miss Lankershim occupied 356 into the mid 1940s with the daughter she adopted as an infant, Jacqueline; Jacqueline married Swedish film actor Frank Sundström and, when her mother died on 11-4-1948—by which time the family had left 356—she inherited a number of family properties including houses in Beverly Hills and Paris and the Lankershim Hotel downtown






357 Lorraine Boulevard


  • Windsor Square Tract 1390; Lot 98 and southerly 50' of Lot 97
  • Built in 1898/1899 at 1445 West Sixth Street; BP for house issued July 1898
  • Original commissioner: Susanna Lankershim Van Nuys, wife of farmer, banker, and developer Isaac Newton Van Nuys
  • Architect: Frederick L. Roehrig
  • Contractor: Alta Planing Mill Company
  • After the death of his father in 1912, James Benton Van Nuys, acting as his own contractor, moved the house to 357 Lorraine in 1915 for use as his own home; relocation BPs for house and garage–servants quarters issued 1-9-1915 (per the house permit, to accomplish its move it was "necessary to cut [it] in halves"; the garage permit allowed for that building to be made smaller for its new location by "cutting off one wing"). Thomas C. Marlowe was the contractor in charge of the move and builder of the new foundation; he was also the contractor on Van Nuys's sister Kate Page's new house built during the same months behind 357 at 354 South Windsor Boulevard
  • On 10-13-1946, the Los Angeles Times reported the sale of 357 by the Van Nuys family to Mr. and Mrs. Albert A. Binney; the asking price was $54,500 ($672,500 in 2016 dollars). The Binneys remained until the mid 1950s when Dr. and Mrs. Laurence J. Stuppy moved in. Dr. Stuppy retained 357 until 1998; that year, his wife, Mary, died and he sold the house to screenwriter Lucy Dahl for $1,300,000. It was sold again on 11-7-2016 for $6,500,000


Grading of the original five-acre site of the Van Nuys house at the northeast corner of Sixth Street and
Loma Drive began in February 1898. In its new, tighter location, the garage lost its westerly wing
(the leftmost gabled portion of the garage as seen above) and was turned 90 degrees in
relation to the house on its new lot; it also acquired an automobile turntable in front.
Sections of the original sandstone wall appear to have also made the three-mile
journey to Windsor Square, now part of the house along Fourth Street.






Illustrations: Private Collection; USCDL