72 Fremont Place
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WILSHIRE BOULEVARD BERKELEY SQUARE ADAMS BOULEVARD WINDSOR SQUARE WESTMORELAND PLACE ST. JAMES PARK
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One of only a few Fremont Place houses to be oriented to the subdivision's cross streets, #72 was part of the wave of large Los Angeles houses built in the 1920s that revived the fashion for English half-timbered styles of 20 years before. Oil man James R. McKinnie commissioned popular architect Merl Lee Barker to design a pretty house in this vein for the northermost parcel of Lot 76, facing West Eighth Street at the southeast corner of Easterly Drive (as the east roadway of Fremont Place was referred to early on). The Department of Building and Safety issued a permit for its construction on May 31, 1928; the house appears today much as it was built—not only externally but inside as well, where all the charm of its interior detail, complete with comfortable furnishings in a style appropriate to the period, remain. The full story of the early years of #72 will be told in due course.
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| As photographed by Dick Whittington circa 1940 |
Illustrations: Private Collection; USCDL
