90 Fremont Place
PLEASE SEE OUR COMPANION HISTORIES
WILSHIRE BOULEVARD ADAMS BOULEVARD BERKELEY SQUAREWINDSOR SQUARE ST. JAMES PARK WESTMORELAND PLACE
FOR AN INTRODUCTION TO FREMONT PLACE, CLICK HERE
The Catholic archbishops residing at #100 and the congregationalist minister James Fifield, who lived at #118, were not the only conservative churchmen who could rationalize living in lavish Fremont Place houses; another was retired Baptist evangelical preacher Cortland Roosa Myers, who commissioned Ray J. Kieffer to design one for he and his wife in 1922. The Department of Buildings issued construction permits to Myers for a house and garage at 90 Fremont Place on July 25th of that year.
The house was sold to insurance man J. Walters Kays right after he married actress Elaine Hammerstein—first cousin of Oscar, the famous librettist—in 1926; during 1930, while renting a house in Venice, the Kayses leased #90 to attorney Clare Woolwine, recently departed from 411 South Arden after a divorce. The Kayses retained ownership of the house for another decade. The next owner—by early 1940—was businessman Dillon Stevens; the next, Henry M. Ullman, bought it in 1951 and made changes to the façade by squaring off arched windows. In 1968, Ullman sold the house to Bruce A. McCandless, who stayed until the early 1980s. At the time of its sale to Jon Douglas in 1983, McCandless's business, McCandless & Company, was described by the Times as "an old-line Hancock Park real estate firm"—it had celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1977. During the time he lived at #90, McCandless maintained his office on the site of the Wilshire Fremont condominiums at the southwest corner of Wilshire and the east drive of Fremont Place, a tall neighborhood-altering building that went up in 1980 with McCandless & Company handling sales.
The full story of 90 Fremont Place will appear in due course.
The house was sold to insurance man J. Walters Kays right after he married actress Elaine Hammerstein—first cousin of Oscar, the famous librettist—in 1926; during 1930, while renting a house in Venice, the Kayses leased #90 to attorney Clare Woolwine, recently departed from 411 South Arden after a divorce. The Kayses retained ownership of the house for another decade. The next owner—by early 1940—was businessman Dillon Stevens; the next, Henry M. Ullman, bought it in 1951 and made changes to the façade by squaring off arched windows. In 1968, Ullman sold the house to Bruce A. McCandless, who stayed until the early 1980s. At the time of its sale to Jon Douglas in 1983, McCandless's business, McCandless & Company, was described by the Times as "an old-line Hancock Park real estate firm"—it had celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1977. During the time he lived at #90, McCandless maintained his office on the site of the Wilshire Fremont condominiums at the southwest corner of Wilshire and the east drive of Fremont Place, a tall neighborhood-altering building that went up in 1980 with McCandless & Company handling sales.
The full story of 90 Fremont Place will appear in due course.
Illustration: Google Maps
