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Overview

Stylistically, the Currier Building, designed by Burton and Parkinson, Architects, had a simplified and modern appearance, more influenced by Georgian Revival architecture and less by the highly decorative styles, such as the Eastlake or Queen Anne Styles, popular during the 1880s and 1890s. The owner, Alvin T. Currier, had come from Maine, and it is possible that he wanted a building reflective of the Colonial buildings of New England. Another prominent landowner from the Spadra area, Louis Phillips, also owned significant amounts of real estate in Downtown Los Angeles, most notably the Phillips Building, the home of the prosperous Hamburger Department Store.

Building History

The Currier Building was erected for Senator Alvan Tyler Currier (born 04/30/1840 in Farmington, ME-d. 08/13/1921 in Los Angeles County, CA) of Spadra, CA. During his life Currier did many jobs, mining in Idaho between 1862 and 1868, driving cattle in Oregon in the late 1860s and farming. He migrated to Southern California, where he selttled permanently by 1869. Currier married Susan Glenn Rubottom (born 03/28/1841 in Jackson County, MO-d. 03/30/1928 in Spadra, CA) on 03/20/1881 in Spadra, CA

By 1891, he operated a 68-acre orange grove in North Pomona, CA, now a part of Pomona, CA. In 1913, he also owned 2400 acres of land in Spadra, now a part of Pomona. A Republican, he served in the California State Senate between 1898 and 1902. During his later life, Currier employed himself in some of the highest-profit busineses of his day, selling insurance, banking and landowning. He also had interests in water companies in arid Southern CA. (See Who's Who on the Pacific Coast, 1913, Franklin Harper, ed., [Los Angeles: Harper Publishing Company, 1913], p. 141.)

The new Los Angeles architectural partnership of Burton and Parkinson designed the building.

Building Notes

In 1896-1897, the architect John Parkinson (1861-1935) maintained his offices in the Currier Building. The firm that designed the building, Burton and Parkinson, dissolved the previous year.

The architectural tandem of Dennis and Farwell occupied Room #414 of the Currier Building in 1897. (See Maxwell's Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1897, p. 280.)

In 1913, Currier occupied Room #208 of the Currier Building as his business office. (See Who's Who on the Pacific Coast, 1913, Franklin Harper, ed., [Los Angeles: Harper Publishing Company, 1913], p. 141.)

Demolition

After a 01/13/1968 fire gutted the Currier Building's upper floors, it was removed a few months later. The fire's loss was valued at $100,000.

PCAD id: 335