Architect’s rendering of Highbourne Gardens from Architect and Engineer.
Real estate development is all about money, expanding and “improving” on property to obtain high financial rewards. HIghbourne Gardens shows the evolution of what is called multi-famlly housing in Los Angeles, beginning as an intimate, cozy bungalow court and expanding to include an elegant apartment building just minutes from Hollywood Boulevard, extending back into what is now Whitley Heights. All that remains today is the lovely 96-year-old apartment building, facing busy Highland Avenue, just down the street from the Hollywood Bowl.
In 1915, Allen and Edgerton Shore constructed 12 furnished bungalows ranging from 3-6 rooms in a loose complex at 1920-1962 N. Highland Ave. called Highbourne Gardens, surrounded by lush landscaping and featuring its own steam heating plant. The elegant apartment hotel development adapted a small part of Italy to Los Angeles, offering a homey, cozy atmosphere for those homesick for family or looking to create a new one in the booming film town of Hollywood.
The complex featured 10 stucco cottages and a Swiss chalet in what today would be considered an upscale small lot development, with tiled baths, hardwood floors, tile fireplaces, built-in features, finished in mahogany and oak. The Los Angeles Times praised it, especially its landscaping by Wilbur David Cook Jr., which featured gardens, lily ponds, hedges, and winding paths. A bowling green divided the north and south parts of the property, featuring a view over a bridge crossing a miniature brook to a teahouse.
The Shores cashed out in 1920, selling to Irving G. McCulley of Detroit, who intended to make his investment his home, maintaining the quiet, friendly atmosphere. Landscape architect George Hall praised the development as perfect for progressive cities, providing a “scientific land division and the grouping of small houses…” to allow individuality, privacy, and attractiveness.
Highland Tower Apartments, 1922 N. Highland, via Google Street View.
He employed Highbourne Gardens as his stunning example of multi-family housing, in that each bungalow possessed its own porch or loggia, a small garden, and views to Highland Avenue. The complex itself contained arcades, pergolas, walks, and lattice work, creating individual looks for each bungalow as well as a cohesive community look throughout. These developments featured homes for multiple families, while providing privacy and individuality.
George K. Orme, a retired Candian manufacturer, purchased the lovely property in 1927, forming the Highbourne Holding Company as the figurehead to expand on the current property in order to rake higher profits, subdividing it into parts. The stylish complex would exist side by side with Orme’s new building, which would offer more high end housing for renters. Orne purchased bonds with the Leo. G. MacLaughlin Company in February 1927 for a new $300,000 Class A building. Ads promoting the bonds stated the development would earn $75,000 each year in income, before McLaughlin offered them for sale in April. In May 1927, the vintage bungalows were relocated to the back of the property along Las Palmas Avenue near Franklin Avenue. Over time, however, they were all demolished to make way for apartment buildings.
Ads trumpeted the opening of Highbourne Gardens in early October 1928, now listed as 1922 N. Highland, a six-story, 48-unit luxurious apartment building taking advantage of its location near a streetcar line and only blocks from Hollywood Boulevard. Ads for the proposed concrete and steel building promoted high end amenities like lush furnishings, private swimming pool, and panoramic views in a structure claimed to also be fireproof and soundproof. Furnished and unfurnished rooms featured frigidaires, dishwashers, and central air and heat along with daily maid service, and with a view towards downtown Los Angeles for some. The rooftop pool featured private and public bungalows for those enjoying its waters, while the building contained a card room, lavish lobby, solarium, lounge, switchboard, and penthouses. For many years, it would be considered one of the upscale apartment houses in Hollywood.
Thanks to its upscale appointments and perfect location, Highbourne Gardens attracted show business residents, high and low. Such people as upcoming star Francis X. Bushman, Jr., Paramount silent film star Ethel Clayton, child actress Cora Sue Collins, “Mayor of Harlem” Willie Bryant, Ann Blyth’s mother, and Mark Twain’s granddaughter, all resided in the building. In 1932, Spanish painter Fernando de Toledo also lived there to sketch and paint for several months before visiting New York for an exhibition of his works. de Toledo found the vivid colors and “spirit of youth” in Hollywood inspirational.
As new, more up-to-date buildings arose around Hollywood, the development’s reputation suffered as it experienced deferred maintenance. By the mid-1940s, new owners updated the apartment building’s name, changing it to Highland Towers and operated it as a hotel. By the early 1990s, the structure had reverted to apartments and fell into further disrepair, with residents complaining to the city and asking for updates and corrections. The name eventually saw the “s” removed as the building was rechristened the Highland Tower.
Over time, what little survived of the Highbourne Gardens bungalow complex deteriorated as newer apartment and condo buildings arose around it, eventually to be demolished. In 1981, a 53-unit condo complex arose on the site, only to fall into foreclosure by 1996, with the units going up for auction.
Real estate development is all about taking a property and increasing its value by demolishing what is there and building something bigger and grander, thereby “improving” the site. Single family homes and older, smaller apartment buildings give way to larger and more up-to-date buildings, providing more housing but not necessarily giving beauty or improvement to the site for the community. While none of the sweet Highbourne Gardens bungalow complex survives at its real estate evolution over the years, at least the classic Highland Tower bulding still survives, exuding graceful beauty 96 years after construction.