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Nelson Building, also known as Grant Building, is a historic former high-rise located at 335-363 S.
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
and 305 W. 4th Street in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of
downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
.


History

Nelson Building was designed by Frank Van Trees for Col. J. D. Grant and built in 1897. The building, which housed both retail and offices, was equipped with
elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
s and electric services when it opened, making it very modern for its time. It was originally three stories in height. In 1902, four additional stories were added to the building, giving it a total of seven. Weymouth Crowell built the addition based on plans from John Parkinson. From 1947 to 1952, this building was home to the Philippine Consulate General in Los Angeles. In 1979, the
Broadway Theater and Commercial District The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch ...
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 Nelson Building 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. The building was reduced to two stories sometime between 1979 and 2005, and the building was removed from the register in 2002, the delisting noting that the building "appears to have been altered after the district was listed" and retains almost none of its historic character-defining features.


Architecture and design

Nelson Building originally featured a
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
design and was made of
brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...
and
plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...
with a red-tile roof. The interior was originally finished with
oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
and
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
. When the building was expanded to seven stories, a
terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...
facade and a mass of ornamentation were also added. Subsequent alterations have removed the ornament, which was replaced by a plastered surface with a rounded corner. According to the
United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...
's 1979 contributing property designation, the building is plain in design but still blends well with the district, while that same department stated that the building retains almost none of its historic character-defining features when the building was delisted in 2002.


See also

*
List of contributing properties in the Broadway Theater and Commercial District The properties on this list are contributing properties to Los Angeles's Broadway Theater and Commercial District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and expanded in 2002. The following properties were original ...


References

{{LABTCD Commercial buildings completed in 1897 Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Historic district contributing properties in California 1890s architecture in the United States Broadway (Los Angeles)