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AKA: Mobil Oil Corporation, Office Building, Downtown, Los Angeles, CA; Pegasus Lofts, Downtown, Los Angeles, CA
Structure Type: built works - commercial buildings - office buildings
Designers: Wurdeman and Becket, Architects (firm); Welton David Becket (architect); Walter Charles Wurdeman (architect)
Dates: constructed 1947-1949
total floor area: 504,000 sq. ft.
Building History
Between 1911 and 1949, the General Petroleum Company occupied space in the Higgins Building, erected in 1910, at the southwest corner of West 2nd and South Main Streets. General Petroleum was purchased by the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony), and this firm became the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company in 1931 following its merger with the Vacuum Oil Company, founded in Rochester, NY in 1866. By 1949, General Petroleum had outgrown this 10-story building, and commissioned the architectural firm of Wurdeman and Becket to design it a large headquarters.
By 1955, General Petroleum's parent Socony-Mobil changed its name to the "Socony Mobil Oil Company." Four years later, the Magnolia Petroleum Company, General Petroleum Corporation, and Mobil Producing Company merged to form the Mobil Oil Corporation. This building by Wurdeman and Becket became the Mobil Oil's Los Angeles headquarters.
The General Petroleum Building housed the offices of the Mobil Oil Company in Los Angeles, CA.
Building Notes
The General Petroleum Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The General Petroleum Building later became converted into the Pegasus Lofts; the name of the lofts derived from Mobil's old logo that featured the winged horse.
PCAD id: 568
