Christie Realty Building
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Christie Realty Building, also known as Wax Museum Building, is a historic two-story building located at 6765-6773 W. Hollywood Blvd in
Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...
. It is best known for Hollywood Wax Museum, its 1965 to present tenant.


History

Christie Realty Building was designed by
Carl Jules Weyl Carl Jules Weyl (6 December 1890 – 12 July 1948) was a German architect and Art director#In film, art director. He designed or co-designed six contributing properties in the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District, won a ...
and built in 1928. The building was owned by the Christie brothers, two of early Hollywood's most powerful movie moguls who also owned the nearby
Christie Hotel Christie Hotel, formerly The Hollywood Inn and The Drake, is a historic eight-story building at 6724 W. Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California. Considered Hollywood's first skyscraper and also its first luxury hotel, the building features Geor ...
. The building's second story was originally home to the Embassy Club, a private club that catered to film stars looking to avoid the crowds at next door's Café Montmartre, both of which were owned by Eddie Brandstatter. In 1933, due to the effects of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, the Christie brothers's companies were forced to file for bankruptcy. Assets, including this building, were sold away. In 1946, the
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
-themed restaurant and bar Snow White Cafe opened in the building, where it would remain for 78 years. In 1965, the Hollywood Wax Museum moved into the building, where it remains to this day. In 1984, the
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District The Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District is a historic district that consists of twelve blocks between the 6200 and 7000 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. This strip of commercial and retail busines ...
was added to the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, with Wax Museum listed as a
contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic dist ...
in the district. In 2021, the building was sold for $22 million .


Architecture and design

Christie Realty Building features
Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...
architecture with street-level
arches An arch is a curved vertical structure span (engineering), spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th mill ...
and Churrigueresque detailing on its second story.


See also

* List of contributing properties in the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District


References

{{HBCED Commercial buildings completed in 1928 1920s architecture in the United States Revival architecture in the United States Buildings and structures in Hollywood, Los Angeles Buildings and structures in Los Angeles Historic district contributing properties in California