Round House (later, Garden of Paradise) was a landmark building on the west side of Main Street, below

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

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 ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

History

The land comprising several lots situated on Main Street below Third Street was granted on August 31, 1847, by the

Ayuntamiento ''Ayuntamiento'' ()In other languages of Spain: * (). * (). * (). is the general term for the town council, or ''cabildo'', of a municipality or, sometimes, as is often the case in Spain and Latin America, for the municipality itself. is mai ...

of the pueblo of Los Angeles, to Juan Bouvette and Loreta Cota, his wife. On March 3, 1854, it was purchased by Remundo Alexander and Maria Valdez, his wife. Alexander was a native of France, and came to California as a sailor. In Africa, he had seen houses of stone built in cylindrical form. When he got married, this prompted him to vary the uniform style of building in Spanish-American countries by fashioning the adobe dwelling for his bride after the architecture of Africa. For a time they lived in the house. On July 28, 1856, it was sold to George Lehman and his wife, Clara Snyder. Lehman was a native of Germany, familiarly known to his fellow-citizens as "Dutch George" or "Round House George". He was described as a good-natured, kind-hearted, well-meaning man, full of vagaries and fantastic notions. Lehman had a strange hallucination that he had found the

Garden of Eden In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (; ; ) or Garden of God ( and ), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.. The location of Eden is described in the Book of Ge ...

, and he set to work to make his grounds as nearly as possible his conception of the dwelling place of

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

. He fitted up the grounds for a pleasure resort, and the building for a saloon. The grounds were referred to then as the Garden of Eden and Lehman named the resort the Garden of Paradise. The public garden was frequented especially on Sundays. This garden became a thicket of foliage and bloom to which Lehman charged a small admission fee; and he sold beer and pretzels in the shade. A music band was stationed on the balcony of the Round House and played at intervals. For more than twenty years, this garden was one of the resorts of the town, and was used on public occasions, notably the country's centennial celebration of July 4, 1876. Lehman contracted debts he could not pay and on March 6, 1879, it passed out of his possession, sold under foreclosure of mortgage. The cactus hedge was cut down in July, 1886, when the city ordered the laying of cement sidewalks. The building was used as a school house after Lehman left it. Founded by Emma Marwedel, it was home to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

’s first

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

, and its first teacher was

Kate Douglas Wiggin Kate Douglas Wiggin (September 28, 1856August 24, 1923) was an American educator, author and composer. She wrote children's stories, most notably the classic children's novel ''Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,'' and composed collections of children's ...

. It was later a lodging house, and its last use was a dwelling for tramps. The Round House was torn down in 1889.

Architecture

Alexander varied the uniform style of building in Spanish-American countries and fashioned the new adobe dwelling after the architecture of Africa. The building was two stories high, with an umbrella-shaped shingle roof. The walls were deep. Mrs. Alexander thought it cost, with the lawn, from US$15,000-$20,000. After Lehman came into possession of the Round House he enlarged it by enclosing it in a frame extension about deep, which on the exterior was an octagon, and in the interior divided into additional rooms. Over the windows, he painted the names of the thirteen original States, with that of California added.

Grounds

The building stood on lots 311, 313, 315, and 317 fronting on Main Street and running through to Spring Street. Its exact location was south of Third Street. The Main Street front of the Garden was later occupied by the Pinney Block, the Pridham Block and Turnverein Hall. On the Spring Street front, lots 308, 310, 312, and 314, was a thick cactus hedge which barred entrance to the grounds from that street. The entrance to the garden was guarded by a row of ''tunas'' (Prickly-pear cacti), which extended across the Main and Spring streets sides that grew from high. Lehman planted shade-giving pepper trees, and built a labyrinth of arbors, which in time were hidden under a profusion of vines and roses. He planted fruit and ornamental trees, shrubbery and plants. There were statues of Adam and Eve,

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Ab ...

, a serpent and golden apples, as well as a frame work for flying horses for the amusement of children. Scattered about under the trees were effigies in cement of the animals which passed in review before Adam to receive their names.

References

* * *

External links

{{coord, 34.0496566, -118.2461499, type:landmark_region:US, display=title Houses in Los Angeles Octagon houses in California Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Defunct resorts in California Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles Houses completed in 1854 1850s architecture in the United States 1854 establishments in California 1889 disestablishments in California Buildings and structures demolished in 1889 Main Street (Los Angeles)