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Overview

Saint Vincent's College was Los Angeles's first institution of higher learning, organized in 1865, and chartered by the State of California in 1869. The Gothic Revival school operated for 46 years under the Catholic Vincentian Order, before control of the institution was ceded to the Jesuits in 1911. This third campus was largest and most extensive operated by the college, in use between 1887 and 1911. It faced South Grand Avenue and was situated between West Washington Boulevard and West 18th Street.

Building History

Saint Vincent's College, established bythe Catalonian-born Bishop Thaddeus Amat y Brusi(1811-1878), Southern California's first Catholic Bishop, in 1865. The school operated as both a college preparatory high school and college, administered by the Vincentian Order between 1865 and 1911. The school had three locations under the name "Saint Vincent's College." The first was in the adobe residence donated by Don Vicente Lugo, sited on the southeast corner of Los Angeles and Alameda Streets on the Los Angeles Plaza, the heart of the early city. It remained in the Lugo Adobe for two years until the Vincentians erected a two-story building on 6th Street between Hill Street and Fort Street (later renamed Broadway) in 1867. This would remain Saint Vincent's home for twenty years.

During 1886 and 1887, the Vincentians built the school's third and most notable campus on the northwest corner of South Grand Avenue and West Washington Boulevard.

Sometime between 11/23/1888 and 09/01/1890, the US Army occupied the Saint Vincent's College Campus, using the site for artillery training. It was under the command of Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles (1839-1925), commander of the Army's Military Division of the Pacific, Department of California.

Rev. A.J. Meyer was the President in 1890. (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1890, p. 384.)

By 1911, the Vincentians had relinquished administration of the college to the Jesuit Order, based in Santa Clara, CA. The Jesuits relocated the school to a site in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on Avenue 52 during the 1910s, renaming it in the process to "Los Angeles College." They then renamed the college for their patron saint, Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), and relocated the campus to a site on 16th Street (renamed Venice Boulevard) between Normandie and Vermont Avenues during the 1918-1929 period. In 1929, Loyola College moved to its current location in the Westchester area of Los Angeles.

In 1922, the Catholic church disposed of the campus, selling it to the Los Angeles Athletic Club for $460,000. (See Jay Berman, Los Angeles Downtown News.com, "The School the City Forgot," published 12/24/2007, accessed 01/09/2020.)

Building Notes

The campus contained a church, student chapel, study hall and dormitories, classrooms, professorial apartments, pool and athletic fields. Classrooms were located in the central portion of the building, while student spaces were to the south and professorial spaces to the north.

Saint Vincent, according to an 1890 advertisement, provided a "Classical, Scientific and Commercial" curriculum for boys and young men. Cost was $5.00 per month for day students and $140 for board, tuition and laundry service for five months. School began in early September and ended in June. (See Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1890, p. 384.)

Alteration

Sometime between 1901 and 1911, Saint Vincent's College received an addition. A profile of its president, Reverend Joseph S. Glass (1874-) in the Press Reference Library (Southwest Edition)of 1912 indicated: "Shortly after he became president of that college the attendance greatly increased and it was necessary to build a large addition to the college building. He has given St. Vincent's College a full university course and has introduced both civil and mechanical engineering branches." (See the Press Reference Library (Southwest Edition), [Los Angeles: Los Angeles Examiner, 1912], p. 157.)

Demolition

The large Saint Vincent College #3 building was demolished.

PCAD id: 23287