Miracle Mile in Los Angeles by Ruth Wallach

Author:Ruth Wallach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2013-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

The Buck House, designed by Rudolph Schindler in 1934, located immediately south of Miracle Mile, is seen in this 2011 photograph. Courtesy of Ruth Wallach.

Photographed here in 2011 is the Pearl M. Mackey apartment house designed by Rudolph Schindler in 1939. Courtesy of Ruth Wallach.

The Dunsmuir Flats apartment building, designed by Gregory Ain in 1937, is seen on the left. Photographed in 2012. Courtesy of Ruth Wallach.

Somewhat farther south, on Dunsmuir Avenue north of Packard Street, is a four-unit apartment house designed by Gregory Ain in 1937 known as Dunsmuir Flats. It is set on a narrow, sloping site, as are almost all the other dwellings on this street, many of which are small apartment homes designed in more traditional styles. Dunsmuir Flats is composed of four staggered rectangles. As Sam Hall Kaplan aptly wrote in his 1988 Los Angeles Times article “Ain’s Contributions Remembered,” the architect “manipulated the cubist-styled units to create an open, informal plan focused on a row of private gardens.” Ain’s goal was to provide light from three sides for all rooms in the two-story apartments through use of clerestories, windows and trellised balconies. He used the rising grade of the property to place the enclosed gardens one above the other.

These three buildings were not entirely an anomaly for Miracle Mile, although Modernist architectural style did not become prevalent in residential architecture here. Miracle Mile, and its environs, was a site for exhibitions of modern architecture that highlighted improvements in building and household technologies. They were part of the evolution of developer- and architect-planned communities that were built in Los Angeles and elsewhere partly in response to the minimum standards for housing advocated by the federal government. The intent of such exhibitions was to demonstrate what the federal government, housing organizations and the building industry considered examples of good dwellings that improved housekeeping. They were part of a broad national movement to spread the message of homeownership through demonstration homes, lectures, architectural competitions and various publications authored by government agencies and private developers. The intent of such publications was to inform the general public of the practical details of home architecture and construction, as well as of the processes involved in the purchase and financing of family dwellings. Manufacturers, department stores, and utility companies participated in outfitting the showcase homes with the latest appliances and furnishings. The Los Angeles Times often sponsored such shows, particularly to demonstrate low- to medium-cost houses, during which a home would be raffled as a prize. Pan Pacific Auditorium, located just north of the Mile on Beverly Boulevard, hosted some of the demonstration home and household improvement shows.

An outdoor show of modern homes that ran for a long time took place on Miracle Mile in 1936–37. Organized by Marie Louise Schmidt, who oversaw the Architects’ Building Materials exhibitions in downtown Los Angeles and, with her sister, wrote construction advice columns in the Los Angeles Times, the show was called “The California House and Garden Exhibition.” It was located at 5900 Wilshire

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