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Overview

This 12-story office building was, according to the Los Angeles Times, the first skyscaper built outside the Downtown Los Angeles central business district in 1923.

Building History

In 1988, the Church of Scientology, International, bought the Guaranty Building. According to Daniel Miller, writing in the Hollywood Reporter.com: "Following the purchase of Chateau Elysee, the [Scientology] group acquired a handful of notable properties in short order: the former Christie Hotel (1974) and Cedars of Lebanon Hospital (1976). Others were added in the 1980s and '90s, including the Hollywood Guaranty Building and the former Hollywood Savings and Loan building. While some are deemed merely to have historic character, many are listed on historic registers, affording them protection from demolition or significant alteration. The group and its affiliates also own non-historic properties including nondescript apartment and office buildings, a recording studio in Silver Lake and the Sunset Boulevard property that houses the anti-psychiatry museum." (See Daniel Miller, Hollywood Reporter.com, "Scientology's Hollywood Real Estate Empire," published 07/21/2011, accessed 11/19/2018.)

Of this 1988 transaction, the Los Angeles Times real estate writer, Ruth Ryon, wrote: "“Hedda Hopper, Charlie Chaplin, Al Jolson and Cecil B. DeMille were all office tenants in a Hollywood landmark that sold a few days ago for about $5 million. The Guaranty Building, on the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Avenue, was built in 1923, and was designed by John C. Austin, who also designed the Griffith Park Observatory and Shrine Auditorium. The 12-story building, called ‘the first major high-rise built outside of downtown Los Angeles’ in the Greater L.A. area, is 106,000 square feet in size, with 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail or office space. Michael Solendar of Gribin Von Del Realtors in Sherman Oaks owned the building and represented himself in the deal. The new owner is the Church of Scientology, which is expected to use the place for offices.” (See Ruth Ryon, “Scientologists Acquire Hollywood Landmark,” Los Angeles Times, 03/06/1988, pt. VIII, p. 1.)

In 2018, the Church of Scientology, International, had a real estate portfolio consisting of at least 16 significant Los Angeles buildings, worth in excess of $300 million.

Building Notes

The building had an appraised value of $1,325,000 in 1923. (See Los Angeles Times, 11/14/1923, p. 14.)