No. 156 - Fire Station No. 1

Fire Station No. 1
1940 - P.K. Schabarum and Charles O. Brittain
2230 Pasadena Avenue – map
Declared: 7/7/76

The current Fire Station No. 1, the fourth Fire Station No. 1, is so Art Deco, so Streamline Moderne, it seems to me, that it’s almost like someone in 1997 said, “Let’s build a firehouse that out-Streamline Modernes any Streamline Moderne building you can find.”

Like I said, this is Fire Station No. 1, No. 4. The first (and I’m getting this information from LAFire.com's Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Archive) was an adobe structure next to the old City Hall at Spring and Temple, lasting from 1871 to 1884. The next No. 1 was the one at the Plaza downtown. Of course, you can still get a look at that one today. Here ‘tis:

The third No. 1 had its run from 1888 to 1941. It was situated at 1901 Pasadena Avenue and was razed to salvage the lumber. That two-story frame structure originally housed “one steam pump engine, one hose wagon and a hook and ladder, the only other company at the time, No. 2, being stationed in Boyle Heights.” It also was home to a city jail. Courtesy of the afore-mentioned L.A.F.D.H.A., F.S.#1, #3:

At a cost of nearly $81,000 and built by the Work Projects Administration, the fourth No.1, the Art Deco beauty some of us know and love today, opened for business on March 6, 1941.

Since I first took pictures of this building on Memorial Day with one member of the Big Orange Landmarks staff (you can tell which picture was taken that day by the flag at half-staff), I’m determined to include it on any of the obligatory L.A. tours for out-of-towners, whether they appreciate it or not. I mean, really, how many towns are there that can lay claim to a building like this?

Again, thanks to LAFire.com, from where I got the b&w shots and the one of The Grapevine below.

Source:

“Old Firehouse Will Be Razed” Los Angeles Times; Feb 14, 1941, p. 3

Up next: Horace Dibble House