Quote:
Originally Posted by HossC
The T Wiesendanger properties are a little clearer on this LAPL version.
LAPL
The 1910 Baist map shows 204 N Fremont Avenue as "General Flats".
www.historicmapworks.com
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Mr. T. Weisendanger was Theodore Wiesendanger. He was born in Switzerland in 1851. He was originally a teacher in his native Switzerland before coming to Los Angeles in 1884. He had taught at his alma mater, the University of Geneva. He was given a professorship at USC where he worked until 1886 when he left to enter the business of property development.
The playground shown in the pictures was apparently near a group of apartments that he owned in a single block. This was in connection with the Roosevelt Apartments.
In addition to houses and many lots that he sold, by 1911 he had built 40 apartments, according to his online biography. This same article notes that he was an inventor who tried to eliminate the "drudgery of housekeeping" for tenants in his apartments.
The article/biography gives a list of the main apartment buildings he owned:
Among the apartments owned and operated by Mr. Wiesendanger are the following: The Park Apartments, the Seattle Apartments, the Golden Apartments, the Gaviota Apartments, the St. Louis Apartments, Boston Apartments, Denver Apartments, Michigan Apartments, Geneva Apartments, New York Apartments, Chicago Apartments, the Florence Apartments, the Roosevelt Apartments, the Taft Apartments, Marengo Apartments, Helvetia Apartments, Alhambra Apartments, Portland Apartments, Pittsburg Apartments, Oakland Apartments, Lucerne Apartments, Goleta Apartments, Ramona Apartments, and many of lesser size.
He lived at 227 W. 2nd St., according to an 1895 directory. He appears in several articles regarding court cases where he was involved, either as a party or as a witness. He is listed in one newspaper account where he is a witness in a trial, as a building contractor.
There is a tract of property in Alhambra known as the Wiesendanger Tract.
He died in Los Angeles in 1919. He is buried in the Rosedale Cemetery. The bio on Find A Grave for him gives an address at the time of his death as 1130 W. 7th.
A census from 1920 shows, interestingly enough, an Edward Weisendanger, possibly a nephew, who was working as a fire sprinkler fitter. Maybe there was some inspiration in his choice of careers!