I know I've only just posted this picture, but it pairs nicely with the next one, so I thought I'd post it again to save you all from having to flick back to the previous page
.
USC Digital Library
This is the view looking in the opposite direction down Spring Street at around the same time. I remembered this picture when I spotted the corner of a circular sign in the top left corner of the picture above. The whole sign can be seen in the picture below. It says "Crandall Aylsworth Company" in the center, with "Up To Date" and "Bargains" around the top and bottom. The sign appears to be on the end of the Schumacher Block where you'd have found Dr Schiffman, the dentist whose strange advert I posted last week (see
here for a reminder).
The building on the left with the square spire is the Los Angeles National Bank Building (more below). Across First Street is the Wilson Block. The sign over the corner door says Western Union Telegraph. More obvious is the Hotel Nadeau on the other side of Spring Street.
NB. USC date this picture as 1900-1904, but LAPL have
a darker version of the same picture with the top half of the circular sign painted out which they date at 1880. This date is too early given the information below about the Los Angeles National Bank Building. Under the word "Clothiers" in the center of the picture there's an advert for Luckenbach & Co, Jewelers at 141 S Spring. I can only find them in the CDs from 1900 to 1911, so the USC date looks more accurate.
USC Digital Library
LAPL has this clearer view of the building that housed the Western Union Telegraph which they date at 1920. This time the sign over the door says Hotel Wilson (the 1923 CD lists the Wilson Hotel at 102 S Spring).
LAPL
Here's a better view of the Los Angeles National Bank Building. The description says that there was a Masonic Temple located upstairs, and the Shriners had their first meeting hall here in 1888. LAPL has a similar picture which also adds that the building was completed in 1887. It was designed by Kysor & Morgan in the "Modern Gothic" style, includes a basement and cost $65,000 to build. The building materials were granite, iron and pressed brick. MacKay & Jones were contractors. It lasted less than 20 years!
USC Digital Library
This 1906 picture shows the construction of the Equitable Savings Bank, the seven-story structure which replaced the Los Angeles National Bank building.
LAPL
Here's the completed building housing the Security Trust and Savings Bank in 1927. I'm guessing that it had a facelift at some point because the picture above shows slightly arched windows on the second floor, and two-tone brickwork which is missing from the shot below. The building is just visible in the background of one of the LA Times bombing pictures I posted a couple of weeks ago in
post #23075. Of course, this building didn't last much longer than its predecessor, and the site is now the corner of the park next to City Hall.
LAPL
Some previous posts on the Wilson Block:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=22017
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=22018
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=22019