St Saviour's Chapel
1914 – Reginald Johnson
3700 Coldwater Canyon Avenue - map
Declared: 2/5/65
St Saviour’s Chapel was dedicated in 1914 at part of the Harvard School for Boys at its original site down at Venice and Western. The building, designed by Reginald Johnson, was modeled after the chapel at Rugby School in England. Every source I’ve found mentions the pews which face the center aisle, but since I stopped by on a late Sunday afternoon, the chapel was closed and I didn’t get a look inside. I’ll have to take their word for it.
St Saviour's in 1965, courtesy of the UCLA Library Digital Collections.
Founded by Grenville C. Emery, the Harvard School for Boys opened in 1900 as a military academy. In the 1930s, Douglas Aviation’s Sir Donald Douglas gave the school $25,000, allowing the institution to move to the site of the old Hollywood Country Club, its current home.
When the Harvard School relocated to its current site in 1937, the 23-year-old chapel was moved along with it. According to McGrew and Julian’s Landmarks of Los Angeles, St Saviour’s was diced into sixteen sections in order to make the journey by the way of Sepulveda Boulevard.
In 1989, Harvard merged with the Westlake School, formed near present-day MacArthur Park by Jessica Smith Vance and Frederica de Laguna in 1904 as an all-female school. It’s been located in Holmby Hills since 1927. Today, as part of Harvard-Westlake School, grades seven through nine go to the old Westlake campus, while sophomores, juniors, and seniors attend the Sherman Oaks school. (Man, if you need proof how exclusive this school is, their website's URL has just two letters - hw.) Harvard School alumni include Jon Lovitz, H.R. Haldeman, and the Nelsons.
Some of the addresses I see associated with the school list its home as Studio City, others say North Hollywood. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's located in Sherman Oaks.
Up next: Barnsdall Arts Center (Residence "A")
The pews do indeed face the center aisle. We would file in once a week for prayer time with Father Gill.
ReplyDeleteAs for where the upper school is located -- variously regarded as North Hollywood or Studio City. I'm pretty sure Coldwater Canyon is the border and the school is on the east side. As for what's considered Studio City, you'll probably have to ask the blue haired ladies who make a big distinction between where they live and North Hollywood. Lately everything south of the freeway seems to be Studio City, and north is "NoHo."
Thanks, William. I'd still like to get a look inside this chapel. And at least I knew it wasn't in Valley Village.
ReplyDeleteThe Coldwater Canyon Road campus is located in Studio City,but USPS places it in North Hollywood. I was a boarding student in the late 60's.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anonymous.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter goes there. I got some great photos of the pews, the cross, the Chapel itself, even some stained glass. I will be back soon as my daughter plays soccer so I take this as time to explore. It is pretty spooky but eerily beautiful to stand in a place over 100 years old, all by yourself. Lol. And it is off Ventura and Coldwater, signs and google indicate Studio City.
ReplyDelete