Wednesday, November 7, 2007

No. 83 - Boyle-Barmore House

Boyle-Barmore House

Boyle-Barmore House
1905 – Charles E. Shattuck
1317 Alvarado Terrace – map
Declared: 7/7/71

One of six Alvarado Terrace residences along with a neighborhood church declared city monuments on the same day in 1971. The collective designation plaque says the group of buildings was honored for “reflecting Victorian architecture on a grand scale prevalent at the turn of the century.” As both of my faithful readers are too aware, I don’t know very much about arkitekchur, but these homes don’t strike me all that Victorian. Feel free to comment why they are (or aren’t) in this or subsequent posts.

This house (which looks, to me, more Tudor Revival in style) was built for the president of the Los Angeles Transfer Co., Edmund H. Barmore, just more than a century ago. You really can’t see much of the home today, as it’s pretty much covered by trees, shrubs, and such.

Boyle-Barmore House

The Boyle-Barmore House is included in the Pico-Union Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Alvarado Terrace Historic District.

One quick note about the location: the Boyle-Barmore House sits on the site of Los Angeles’s first golf course. Windmill Links was organized as a nine-hole course at the end of 1897 by a group of thirty men lead by Edward B. Tufts. Holes were carved with butcher knives while the cups were formed by sunken tomato cans. The name Windmill Links stemmed from the abandoned windmill that served as the early clubhouse. A year later, the L.A. Country Club was incorporated and the course moved from Pico and Alvarado Terrace to about eighteen blocks west at Pico and Hobart. (It moved again a year later, and then again in 1911.)

Here’s a final, over-the-fence shot of the building from the back.

Boyle-Barmore House

Source:

Chuck Hillinger “Not So Long Ago” Los Angeles Times; Aug 26, 1952, p. A5


Up next: Cohn House

3 comments:

gc said...

A little tidbit about this house: It used to be owned by the Union Rescue Mission. The URM referred to this house as the Joel House, which was used for the younger men who were forced to live on the streets for a variety of reasons. The idea was to get them away from skid row.

Later, this house became 1 of 2 women's shelters on Alvarado Terrace, both known as Bethel Haven.

Both houses were gorgeous on the inside. I remember the stain-glass windows in particular.

I know this because my father used to be the director of URM and lived in the carriage house behind the Boyle-Barmore house for a short period.

I enjoyed seeing this again.

Brady Westwater said...

As for architecture, it is an excellent example of early Tudor Revival.

Unknown said...

I grew up in Los Angeles and moved to S.D. In the early 90's and actually I lived right on Pico Blvd not to far from the Salvation Army
And when my son was littlle he used to attend a pre-school right there in the Alvarado Terrace Park Area I remember always loving these old houses and as a kid I always wanted to visit whomever lived in one of these grand old houses just because they truly are beautiful I do hope that who ever lives in these homes are taking care of them and appreciating them as much as I did and I started enjoying the beauty of these homes since the mid 60's☎️ Probably back when the first tel phones were invented 👍👍👍