Overview

This house was located on a narrow residential street in the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los Angeles located between Hope Street to its northwest and Grand Avenue on its southeast. During urban renewal projects of the 1950s and 1960s, South Bunker Hill Avenue was eliminated from the city's street grid, and replaced by several large-scale cultural centers, including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Mark Taper Center in the Music Center.

Building History

This house was originally one of three erected on property owned by Rueben M. Baker. These houses were located at 225, 233 and 239 South Bunker Hill Avenue in 1888, but were renumbered to 325, 333 and 339 in 1889-1890. As noted by architectural historian Christina Rice, this house may have originally served as a rooming house for Baker, but he sold it to Ada Frances and Rudolph Weyse in 1892, who also operated it as the same. Joseph L. and Augusta Murphey took over as owners/landlords in 1902. In 1900, it functioned as a duplex, but eight years later it had been subdivided into seven rented spaces. This multiplied to 10 units by 1920 and to 13 by 1939. This number of separate rented spaces seems almost inconceivably small given the relatively modest scale of the Salt Box. During this time, it served a working class clientele of individuals and families. (See Christina Rice, On Bunker Hill.org, "The Salt Box – 339 South Bunker Hill Avenue," accessed 01/23/2018.)

By the 1950s, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was making plans to clear blight from this section of Downtown Los Angeles, and by the late 1960s, nearly all of the 19th-century residences that once lined South Bunker Hill Avenue had been cleared. Only two remained by 1968, when city officials made plans to have the Salt Box and the Castle (325 South Bunker Hill Avenue) relocated to the new Heritage Square Museum, a collection point for orphaned Victorians in the Highland Park neighborhood of the city. They relocated the two dwellings in 05/1969, where they awaited renovation as museum attractions.

Building Notes

Architectural historian Patrick McGrew said of this house: "This structure was one of the best-preserved houses on Bunker Hill. It was well-designed and well-proportioned, a classic example of a turn-of-the-century residence and an elegant reminder of old Bunker Hill." (See Patrick McGrew, Landmarks of Los Angeles, [New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994]. p. 46.)

The house at 339 South Bunker Hill Avenue had simplified Italianate ornamentation and a very simple rectangular shape. A comound hipped roof covered the wood-frame structure, that was sheathed in wooden drop siding. Windows had casings that were segmentally arched and had trabeated cornices. Small carved brackets supported the eaves. A front porch, supported by turned posts, jutted out to protect the main entry; the front door had square and oval moldings to decorate it. A bay projected from one side, lit by five, tall windows with arched tops. A substantial addition protruded from the rear.

Alteration

Sometime between initial construction in 1888 and 1906, a few changes and additions were made to the 339 South Bunker Hill Avenue rooming house. A garage that stood at the rear of the property had been removed, but three small living spaces had been added next to where it had stood. A large rear addition was made to the original building rectangle, as was the projecting front porch. (See Christina Rice, On Bunker Hill.org, "The Salt Box – 339 South Bunker Hill Avenue," accessed 01/23/2018.)

Demolition

On 10/09/1969, vandals burned this house and another moved--325 South Bunker Hills Street--from the same vicinity in Downtown Los Angeles's Bunker Hill neighborhood that had recently been relocated to the Heritage Square Museum.