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Overview

This very unusual dwelling had irregular, picturesque massing of forms, consistent with 19th century Queen Anne architecture, but had half-timbering, brick detailing and steeply pitched roofs suggestive of French or German vernacular prototypes. The design of the front-facing gable, with its double-pitched form, was unusual for the period in the US. The demolition of this highly distinctive design was a loss for Los Angeles.

Building History

Gebhard and Winter in their 1985 Architecture in Los Angeles A Compleat Guide, attributed this house to the architect Joseph Cather Newsom (1857-1930). They wrote of it: "Knowing Newsom's inventive use of terms to indicate style, he would most likely have labeled this stucco, wood-detailed and highly-pitched-roof dwelling as 'Rhinish.'" This would suggest that it had elements of Germanic or French half-timbered architecture. (See David Gebhard and Robert Winter, Architecture in Los Angeles A Compleat Guide,[Salt Lake City: Gibbs M. Smith, Incorporated, 1985], p. 204.) The historians dated the work as "c. 1900."

The house at 957 South Arapahoe Street was included in a 1987 exhibition prepared by Gebhard and Winter on the Southern CA work of Joseph Cather Newsom and his brother Samuel Newsom (1852-1908). It was one of eleven residences in Southern CA that Gebhard and Winter established or attributed to the pair. (See Evelyn De Wolfe, "Exhibit to Feature Newsom's Work," Los Angeles Times, 01/18/1987, p. H1, H11.)

Building Notes

The contents of the house at 957 South Arapahoe Street were auctioned by Strouse and Hill Auctioneers on 09/29/1920. (See "Auction Sales," Los Angeles Times, 06/10/2025, p. I6.)

Demolition

The house at 957 South Arapahoe Street was destroyed likely sometime in 2019.

PCAD id: 25763