AKA: Eastern Columbia Outfitters Building #2, Los Angeles, CA; 849 South Broadway Building, Los Angeles, CA

Structure Type: built works - commercial buildings - department stores

Designers: Beelman, Claud, and Associates (firm); Kelly Wearstler, Interior Design, (kwid) (firm); Killefer Flammang Architects (firm); Claud Wilbur Beelman (architect); Barbara Flammang (architect); Wade Killefer (architect); Kelly Wearstler (interior designer)

Dates: constructed 1929-1930

13 stories, total floor area: 270,000 sq. ft.

849 South Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90014-3206

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Eastern Columbia Outfitters Building

Clad in "melting turquoise" terra cotta, the 270,000-square-foot Eastern Columbia Building is of the prime examples of the Art Deco Style in downtown Los Angeles; Adolph Sieroty, a Polish immigrant who came to Los Angeles in the 1890s, owned the Eastern (the home furnishings division) and Columbia (the clothing and accessories division) Outfitting Companies; Sieroty eventually expanded his retail company to include 29 stores on the West Coast; this extravagant building, that in the beginning had a swimming pool and other athletic facilities, cost $1.25 to construct, opened 09/12/1930. After its closure as a retail establishment, the building was converted into offices in the 1960s; KOR Investments purchased the Eastern Columbia building from Denly Properties in August 2004 for $20 million during a loft apartment building-boom in downtown Los Angeles; the firm committed $30 million to renovate the office building into 140 condominium apartments, ranging in price from $300,000 to $1 million; the KOR Group opened the building as 147 condominiums in late 2006. Between 2004-2006, Killefer Flammang Architects supervised the conversion, collaborating with Kelly Wearstler Interior Design (kwid).

PCAD id: 469