Overview

By the 1920s, specialized skyscraper office buildings were being built for various professions. Los Angeles had an Architects Building, and specialized facilities were created for doctors and dentists. Suites for doctors had waiting rooms, various examination rooms, and spaces for various types of medical equipment. Most large cities had at least one of these catering to this high-income market segment. Long Beach architects Warren A. Dedrick and E.R. Bobbe designed the Medico-Dental Building collaborating with the construction firm of Stradley, Newton and Wilkie.

Long Beach was in the midst of a building boom in 1925. The Los Angeles Times observed of actvities here: ""More than $7,800,000 is the aggregate sum invested in grounds and buildings of the eight major projects, which include two office buildings, two apartment houses, one beach club, one hotel, one retail store building, and a public service plant and lodge temple. All of these buildings, with the exception of two, are right in the heart of the business district." Within this busy time of construction, the article went on to describe Long Beach's new Medico-Dental Block: "Ground was broken last week for the new Medico-Dental Building which is to be erected by Stradley-Newton and Wilkie at the corner of Pine and Eighth streets. It will be eight stories in height and will involve a total investment of $600,000. Of Tudor-Gothic architecture, designed by Dedrick and Bobbe for W. Patton Wilson, the structure will cover a ground area of 50x150 feet. It is to be of reinforced concrete. On completion it will be occupied completely by physicians, surgeons, and dentists, it is said." (See "Long Beach Activity Gains," Los Angeles Times, 11/29/1925, p. E1.) William Patton Wilson (1851-1948) owned commercial properties in Long Beach, including one at 302 Locust Avenue and another brick building at 201 East 3rd Street; he erected stores on both of these sites in 1914. He incorporated as "W. Patton Wilson, Incorporated," on 09/27/1929 in CA.

In the Engineering News-Record in 1925, the cost of construction alone was set at $400,000 for the Medico-Dental Block. (See "Contracts Let," Engineering News-Record, vol. 94, 1925, p. 190.)

PCAD id: 19711