Meyer & Holler was an architecture firm based in Los Angeles, California, noted for its opulent commercial buildings and movie theatres, including Grauman's Chinese and Egyptian theatres, built during the 1920s. Meyer & Holler was also known as The Milwaukee Building Company.
History
editGabriel S. Meyer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1874 |
| Died | 1955 |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Practice | Meyer & Holler |
| Buildings | Henry Weaver House Grauman's Egyptian Theatre Fox Fullerton Alex Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre Aztec Theatre |
Philip W. Holler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1869 |
| Died | 1942 |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Practice | Meyer & Holler |
| Buildings | Henry Weaver House Grauman's Egyptian Theatre Fox Fullerton Alex Theatre Grauman's Chinese Theatre Aztec Theatre |
The Milwaukee Building Company was established in 1905 as a design and construction firm, with Mendel Meyer as president, Gabriel Holler as vice president, and Julius C. Schneider as Secretary. In 1911, they were joined by Phillip W. Holler.
The Milwaukee Building Company became the Los Angeles-based architectural office of Meyer & Holler, an eminent firm responsible for the design of numerous Southern California landmark buildings. The company opted for the Design-build approach very early in its history. The architectural firm to design the structure and the Milwaukee Building Company to build it. Only on very rare occasions did it contract to erect projects designed by independent architects. In the 1920s in Los Angeles, Meyer & Holler were one of the most esteemed architectural firms, and the Milwaukee Building Company was the largest contracting firm.
At first emphasizing residential work of an increasingly important scale, Meyer & Holler switched to an emphasis on commercial work after World War I. Integral to the company's strategy for success was the offering of architectural design services of an unusually high level of quality, which it was able to due as a result of hiring some of the finest architectural design talent available in Southern California in the 1910s and 1920s.[1]
Meyer and Holler[2] was founded by Gabriel S. Meyer[3] and Philip W. Holler[4] Meyer & Holler also designed and built apartment buildings, hotels, banks, and churches. A number of Meyer & Holler buildings are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Incorporated in 1906, Meyer & Holler developed into one of the largest building firms in Los Angeles before declaring bankruptcy in 1932 as an indirect result of litigation related to California's architectural registration laws.
Associated architects and draftsmen
edit- Raymond M. Kennedy[5]
- Donald Wilkinson (1890–1975) chief architect (1920–1932)[6]
- Lewis Elbert Blaize, bungalow designer
- Kenneth Wing[7]
Selected works
edit
National Register of Historic Places
edit- Henry Weaver House, Santa Monica (1910) #89002114[8]
- Fox Fullerton, Fullerton (1925) #06000948[9]
- Alex Theatre, Glendale (1925)[10] #96000102[11]
- Aztec Theatre, San Antonio, Texas (1926) #92001403[12]
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District contributing properties
edit- Grauman's Egyptian Theatre (1922)[13]
- Café Montmartre (1922)[13]
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre (1927)[13]
- First National Bank of Hollywood (1927)[13]
- Petersen Building (1929)[13]
Broadway Theater and Commercial District contributing properties
edit- Singer Building (1922)[14]
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
edit- Mount Washington Hotel and Inn (1909)[15] #845[16]
- Herivel House (1912) #370[16]
- Grauman's Egyptian Theatre (1922) #584[16]
- Petroleum Building (1925)[17] #596[16]
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre (1927) #55[16]
Santa Monica Historic Landmarks
editLong Beach Historic Landmarks
edit- Walker Building (1929)[19] 16.52.510
- Ocean Center Building (1929) 16.52.370
Other
edit- Elizabeth Milbank Anderson House, Long Beach (1912)[citation needed]
- L.L. Burns Building, Los Angeles (1914)[20]
- Avis Hotel, Pomona (1915)[21]
- Culver Studios (as the Thomas H. Ince Studios), Culver City (1919)[22]
- Granada Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles (1921)
- Thomas McNamara House, Los Angeles (1922)
- Medical Arts Building, Los Angeles (1922)
- Hollywood Athletic Club (1922)
- Southern California Music Company (aka Singer Sewing Machine), Los Angeles (1922)[23]
- Southern California Athletic and Country Club, Lake Elsinore (1924)
- Fox Cabrillo Theatre, San Pedro, California (1923) [24]
- Fourth Church of Christ Scientist, Los Angeles (1924)
- Ninth Church of Christ Scientist, Los Angeles (1925)
- Quinby Office Building, Los Angeles (1926)[25]
- Masonic Lodge, Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles (1928)
- Hillcrest Motors, Hollywood (1929)[26]
- Marti's (Hugh A. Marti Co.) department store, Long Beach (1929)[27]
- Twenty-Sixth Church of Christ Scientist, Los Angeles (1929)
- E. Clem Wilson Building, Los Angeles (1930)[28]
- Twelfth Church of Christ Scientist, Los Angeles (1931)
References
edit- ^ Design-build and building efficiency in the early twentieth century United States by Alfred Willis 2003 Archived 2009-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Meyer and Holler, Architects
- ^ Gabriel S. Meyer
- ^ Philip W. Holler
- ^ Raymond M. Kennedy
- ^ Donald Reuben Wilkinson
- ^ Kenneth Smith Wing
- ^ "California SP Weaver, Henry, House". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. November 13, 1989.
- ^ "California SP Fox Fullerton Theatre Complex". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. September 13, 2006.
- ^ Moore, Charles; Becker, Peter; Campbell, Regula (1984). The City Observed: Los Angeles; A Guide to its Architecture and Landscapes (trade paperback ed.). New York: Vintage Books, a division of Random House. p. 303. ISBN 0-394-72388-0.
- ^ "Alexander Theatre". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. January 18, 1996.
- ^ "Aztec Theater". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. October 22, 1992.
- ^ a b c d e "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form - Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. April 4, 1985.
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form - California SP Broadway Theater and Commercial District". United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service. May 9, 1979.
- ^ Mount Washington Hotel + Inn
- ^ a b c d e "Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) List" (PDF). City of Los Angeles. April 6, 2024.
- ^ Petroleum Building
- ^ a b "City of Santa Monica Designated Landmarks" (PDF). City of Santa Monica. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- ^ "Walker's Long Beach", PCAD
- ^ L.L. Burns Building
- ^ Avis Hotel
- ^ "Studio Near Completion". Los Angeles Times. December 1, 1918.
- ^ Singer Sewing Machines (Southern California Music Company)
- ^ Fox Cabrillo Theatre
- ^ Quinby Office Building
- ^ Hillcrest Motor Co. Building
- ^ "We Appreciate the Excellent Co-operation of Contractors and Workmen". The Long Beach Sun. 25 July 1929. p. 21. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ E. Clem Wilson Building
- Willis, Alfred. (2000). Design-Build in Early Modern Los Angeles: A Case Study of Meyer & Holler. In Formulation and Fabrication: The Arehitecture of History, 599–604. Wellington, NZ: Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand.
- Meyer & Holler v. H. D. Bowman (121 California Appellate Reports 112)
- Meyer & Holler v. Ramona Village (March 29, 1935. Civ. No. 8788 . 5 Cal.App.2d 688).
- Construction History Society Newsletter[permanent dead link]
- Meyer & Holler[usurped]
External links
edit