Chapman Plaza (also known as Chapman Park Market) is a building located between West Sixth Street and Alexandria Avenue in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. The historic plaza building is about 50,000 square feet and is located in the heart of

Koreatown A Koreatown (), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula. History Koreatowns as an East Asian ethnic enclave have only been in existence s ...

, hosting several restaurants, bars, and cafes. The address is 3465 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020.

History

After its construction in 1928, the plaza opened in 1929 and was one of the first markets designed for easy access of automobiles. The plaza was constructed with big parking spots in the middle with numerous stores surrounding the lot. Chapman Plaza served higher class neighborhoods such as Fremont Place,

Windsor Square Windsor Square is a small, historic neighborhood in the Mid-Wilshire, Wilshire region of Los Angeles, California. It is highly diverse in ethnic makeup, with an older population than the city as a whole. It is the site of the official residence ...

and

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which displa ...

in Los Angeles. Also, the plaza was built in set with Chapman Park Studio building on the other side of Alexandria Avenue. The plaza was built during the

Spanish Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish archi ...

movement period in 1920s to 1930s in Los Angeles by renowned architecture firm

Morgan, Walls & Clements Morgan, Walls & Clements was an architectural firm based in Los Angeles, California and was responsible for many of the city's landmarks, dating back to the late 19th century. History Morgan, Walls & Clements earliest precursor, Kysor & Hennes ...

. The architects practiced

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

and

Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...

architecture creating buildings in Los Angeles such as the

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

and

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

theaters. As one of Spanish Revival style building, Chapman Plaza has “fortress-like façade, with thick concrete walls…

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometers, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is i ...

ornate,

Churrigueresque Churrigueresque (; Spanish: ''Churrigueresco''), also but less commonly "Ultra Baroque", refers to a Spanish Baroque style of elaborate sculptural architectural ornament which emerged as a manner of stucco decoration in Spain in the late 17th c ...

towers". The interior of the building has “high ceilings, arched windows, double-wide hallways and an artisan showroom” with the exterior consisting “courtyard, fountains/statues, gardens patios and rooftop views”.

Current

On August 30, 1988, the building was named as

Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria. History The Historic-Cul ...

(#386). Chapman Plaza was planned for renovation with $4.5 million budget in order to transform the space into a “place of beauty and an urban meeting ground” and bring back the “charm of early Los Angeles”. It went through big renovation project in 1990 with The Ratkovich Company (owned by Wayne Ratkovich) and architect

Brenda Levin Brenda A. Levin is a Los Angeles-based architect and advocate for historic preservation. A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), her major projects include the restoration of iconic L.A. landmarks like the Bradbury Building, the Gr ...

. In 2016, Chapman Plaza was sold to new owner ArcWest Partners who proposed to “restore the structure to ‘its historic grandeur’” including some of the historic elements like the façade. Chapman Plaza continues to be one of the remaining Spanish Revival style architecture in Los Angeles.

References

{{coord, 34.0639, -118.2973, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title Commercial buildings in Los Angeles Koreatown, Los Angeles Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in California Morgan, Walls & Clements buildings Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments