Max Maltzman (May 12, 1899 – August 15, 1971) was an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

noted during the

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 ...

era and one of the first

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

architects to break into the mainstream. The design and looks of his buildings were widely emulated by his peers and successors 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, ...

Life

Max Maltzman was born in 1899 in

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( ), also known as Nikolaev ( ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and a hromada (municipality) in southern Ukraine. Mykolaiv is the Administrative centre, administrative center of Mykolaiv Raion (Raions of Ukraine, district) and Myk ...

Novorossiya Novorossiya rus, Новороссия, Novorossiya, p=nəvɐˈrosʲːɪjə, a=Ru-Новороссия.ogg; , ; ; ; "New Russia". is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later becom ...

, Russian Empire, now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. His parents were Esther Maltzman and Abraham Maltzman, a carpenter. He had six siblings. The Maltzman family immigrated to

Montreal, Quebec Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada in 1909, but Max Maltzman moved to

Chelsea, Massachusetts Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts Suffolk County ( ) is located in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 797,936, making it the fourth-most populous county in ...

, U.S. in 1910. Following military service in World War I, Maltzman returned to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, where he began studying architecture. He married Russian native Sadye Seltzer (1906-1966) in 1921. Sadya was fifteen years old at the time of their marriage, while Max was 21 or 22. They had three children: Elliott (born 1923), Muriel (born 1924) and Donald (born 1938). Max Maltzman became an American citizen in 1923. Maltzman and his wife moved to Los Angeles in the 1920s. He established an office at 169 North

La Brea Avenue La Brea Avenue is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the Los Angeles, California, City of Los Angeles and in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California. La Brea is known for having diverse ethnic communities, and m ...

, and later at 704 South Spring Street. Maltzman was known to be an avid Boston sports fan and frequently attended games at Fenway Park, cheering on the dominant Boston Red Sox through their championship seasons in 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918. Even after moving across the country he remained committed to Major League Baseball as a Red Sox fan, and eventually began following other American sports, becoming a fan of the Boston Celtics in the 1940s and the Boston Patriots in 1960s. Maltzman passed this fandom on to his children as well, and as Elliott, Muriel and Donald grew up and had families of their own, they would all gather each Sunday to watch the Patriots play football. These traditions have persisted even after his death, as his grandchildren and great grandchildren carry on his memory through their support of Boston sports. Maltzman died in August 1971 in Los Angeles, at the age of 72.

Work

Several of Maltzman's buildings have become significant monuments, for example,

The Ravenswood The Ravenswood is a historic apartment building in Art Deco style at 570 North Rossmore Avenue in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was designed by Max Maltzman, and built by Paramount Pictures in 1930 just five block ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, which the

City of Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city ...

declared in 2003 to be a Historic Cultural Monument, and the Charmont Apartments, which the federal government has placed on 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 ...

. In 1929 Matzlman designed and built The Northmere at 1840 N Berendo Street in

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. The 18-unit apartment radiates a hybrid of Italian Revival meets

Spanish Colonial Revival architecture 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 ...

and has been featured in numerous films, television programs, and commercials. Maltzman operated during the era of

Old Hollywood In film criticism, Classical Hollywood cinema is both a narrative and visual style of filmmaking that first developed in the 1910s to 1920s during the later years of the silent film era. It then became characteristic of United States cinema du ...

glamor, and several stars from that era, including

Mae West Mary Jane "Mae" West (August 17, 1893 – November 22, 1980) was an American actress, singer, comedian, screenwriter, and playwright whose career spanned more than seven decades. Recognized as a prominent sex symbol of her time, she was known ...

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

and

Ava Gardner Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' att ...

sought to live in his buildings. In 1952, Maltzman was hired by Chicago

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

figures to be the supervising architect for the Sahara Casino in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. Victoria Schurz Randlett. University of California, Berkeley, 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maltzman, Max 1899 births 1971 deaths Architects from Los Angeles Jewish architects Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States People from Mykolaiv