114 Fremont Place

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 Alonzo Chesbro Moses came to Los Angeles in the late 1910s from Cleveland, where he was born and where he had apparently acquired enough capital to begin speculating in West End real estate. One of his first projects was the large Italian Renaissance house still standing on the east side of Fremont Place West one house south of Ninth Street. The Department of Buildings issued permits to Moses for a 12-room residence and garage on January 19, 1920; no architect is specified on the documents, while the owner is listed as his own contractor. The first owners were two R. V. Joneses, Rome V. and his son, financier Robert V., who lived with their wives at 114 until 1925, when it was acquired by a couple who brought culture to the Place in a big way. The Willits J. Holes were Old Guard Angelenos—"Old Guard" membership requiring in their typical case only a few decades' residence—who had become avid art collectors. Soon after moving in, they hired architect Pierpont Davis to add a spectacular space to 114 to accommodate their growing collection of Old Masters; what was now called the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit for the 30-by-67-foot addition on May 11, 1927. What better way to cement your ruling-class credentials than to build a private art gallery of one's own?



 
Willits Hole died in 1936; his daughter, Agnes Marion, had married Samuel Knight Rindge, son of Frederick Hastings Rindge of the fabled Malibu Rindges. In 1938, Agnes Rindge donated her parents' art collection to U.C.L.A.; the Rindges' son Samuel Hastings, a lawyer, lived in the house into the 1940s. Composer Danny Elfman bought 114 Fremont Place in 2000 for $2,125,021. He married actress Bridget Fonda in 2003; the couple purchased the 1916 house at 75 Fremont Place, which backs up to 114's art gallery, in the spring of 2015. Both houses were placed on the market in the fall of 2020, with the sellers believing 114 to now be worth $8,800,000.
Alonzo C. Moses's finished project at 114 Fremont Place was
offered in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times on October 24, 1920,
which included the text above. Below, a stylized aerial view of the house
showing the art gallery added seven years later by the Holes.



Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT