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Overview

This 11-story apartment tower, executed in the Renaissance Revival Style, had an L-shaped plan and occupied the northwestern corner of West 3rd Street and Cedar Avenue. The Stillwell Apartments were an early example of condominium building in Southern CA. It later became a hotel named for the early Long Beach developer, William Erwin WIllmore (1844-1901).

Building History

Long Beach received an influx of residents and visitors during the 1920s, and many apartment buildings and hotels were erected to serve them. Some apartment buildings began being sold as condominiums initially, the Stillwell Apartments, being one of them. The Los Angeles Times wrote in late 1925: "Another project, calling for more than a $1,250,000 investment, is the eleven-story Stillwell Apartments at the corner of Cedar and Third streets, which is being built on the own-your-own-plan by the Stillwell-Long Beach Company. The pouring of the concrete for the ninth floor was completed today. The building was designed by the firm of Fisher, Lake and Traver and is being built by the contracting firm of Trewhitt and Shields." (See "Long Beach Activity Gains," Los Angeles Times, 11/29/1925, p. E1.) Fisher, Lake and Traver operated in both Fresno and Los Angeles at this time, with H. Rafael Lake supervising the former office.

Building Notes

The Stillwell Apartments/WillmoreHotel stood on a 22,488-square-foot lot.

Being of "sound construction," the building suffered only minimal damage in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake, according to the article "Long Beach Earthquake...," Engineering News Record, vol. 110, 1933, p. 474.

The Stillwell/Willmore was Identified as significant by the Long Beach Heritage Foundation in 1985, and became listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.