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Building History

Nathan Wilson Stowell was born in Claremont, NH on 12/15/1851. He found employment at the Whitney Water Wheel Works in Leominster, MA, c. 1870, gaining a basic education in hydraulic systems. He later expanded his field of interest into irrigation systems, particularly after he moved to Southern CA c. 1874. He worked throughout the region on irrigation projects, and founded a company that produced concrete irrigation pipes for which he received several patents. His largest project involved irrigating the Imperial Valley in Imperial County. Stowell began an irrigation company called the California Development Company. James Miller Guinn's A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, (Volume 2), said of the Stowell Building: "The offices of this company were in the Stowell building on Spring street, Los Angeles, now known as the Germain building, and built by Mr. Stowell in 1889, at which time it was the first large modern office building south of Second street, a locality then considered almost without the business limits." (See James Miller Guinn, A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, Volume 2, [Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1915], p. 292.)

Stowell was also responsible for the construction of the Hotel Stowell, located at 416 South Spring Street, built in 1913.

Building Notes

In 1895, the architectural partnership of James Lee Burton (1844-1912) and John Parkinson (1861-1935) occupied Rooms #94-95 of the Stowell Block in 1895. (SeeLos Angeles, California, City Directory, 1895, p. 1506.) This firm split up in 1896, but James Lee Burton remained practicing architecture in Rooms #95-96 in that year. (SeeLos Angeles, California, City Directory, 1896, p. 1670.)

In 1899, architect C.H. Brinkoff had his architectural office in Room #454 of the Stowell Building. (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1899, p. 1000)

PCAD id: 21741