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Overview

New York-born Dr. Edwin O. Palmer (1872-1959), a physician who served as Hollywood's City Health Officer in 1906, commissioned architect Fernand Parmentier (d. 1915) to design and supervise the construction of a two-floor office building in Hollywood in 1903-1904. Parmentier would practice only about 10 more years when he left Los Angeles to fight with French forces during World War I. He died at the Battle of Gallipoli on 08/07/1915, a 50-year-old enlisted man in the French Army.

Building History

Trained at Columbia University in medicine, Palmer was a physician who later became President of two banks, the Hollywood National Bank and Citizens Savings Bank of Hollywood. Palmer was a member several professional organizations, including the American Medical Association and the Los Coutny and California State Medical Associations and socially joined the Masons, University Club, and Tuna Club of Catalina Island. He also was an historian, writing a history of Hollywood.

When Palmer first came to Southern California, he first stayed in Hollywood at the Sackett Hotel; he liked it so much he rented a room there as well for his medical office. After he switched careers to banking, he bought the Sackett Hotel and tore it down to build a two-story office building, at the intersection of Prospect Avenue (later renamed Hollywood Boulevard) and North Cahuenga Boulevard.

Alteration

Two floors were added to Palmer's original office/retail building in 1931. Its exterior was reworked reflecting Art Deco influences, seen best in the continuous piers separating the bays of the building's upper three floors.

PCAD id: 20162