Architectural Wonder
Burt Johnson was commissioned to create the two gigantic figures on the exterior of the building as well as the beautiful bronze statues in the fountain located in the center of the lobby.
The Fine Arts Building was completed in 1927. Perhaps due to the Depression, the building was sold four years later. Through the years it has been renamed for its successive owners: The Signal Oil Building, the Havenstrite Building, and Global Marine House. Acquired in 1983 by Ratkovich Bowers and Perez, the building underwent a complete renovation, restoring the Fine Arts Building to its original beauty, while bringing the structure to modern office standards. The lobby area was refurbished under the caring eye of Tony Heinsbergen, son of the original artist, whose firm continues to specialize in the deocration and restoration of quality buildings. Brenda Levin Associates, officed in the Fine Arts Building, was design consultatnt for all the common areas of the building.
The Fine Arts building was declared a cultural historical monument in 1974. Continuing with the tradition, exhibits of various art forms are displayed in the lobby showcases.
The Fine Arts Building is a wonderfully detailed Romanesque Revival structure, unique in Los Angeles. Designed by Walker and Eisen, the twelve-story building features a two-story Spanish Renaissance "courtyard" lobby with a galleried mezzanine. The Fine Arts Building was originally intended to provide working areas for artisans, who could also display their wares in the bronze and glass showcased in the lobby.
Colossal reclining sculpted figures of Architecture (with a symbolic capital) and Sculpture (with a torso) designed by Burt Johnson, rest on a corbel table above the windows on the second and third levels. Higher on the façade are recessed marble spandrels with black diamond-shaped inlays. At the top, sculpted figures flank the arcaded central section, which is crowned by an arcaded pediment above an open gallery.
The Fine Arts Building dates back to the construction boom of the 1920's. The Building was envisioned as a cultural mecca for Los Angeles. The floors above the ornate exhibition hall would be devoted to artist studios and workshops. Here, gifted tenants could create and display their wares in a building which would be, in itself, a work of art. In their commitment to excellence, the Fine Arts Building Company retained the architecture firm of Walker and Eisen, who are noted in history for their substantial contribution to Los Angeles architecture. The architects discarded original plans to face the building in stone. Terra-Cotte, they decided, would permit more intricate ornamentation. The building's exterior, with its ornate Romanesque entrance, arched high above decorative bronze doors was patterned after early Christian churches. The building features a magnificent two story entrance lobby of molded terra cotta and colored tile with a fountain surrounded by sculptured figures and seventeen bronze showcases..
