International Savings & Exchange Bank Building
{{Short description|Former building in Downtown Los Angeles}}
{{Infobox building
| name = International Savings & Exchange Bank Building
| native_name =
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| image = International Savings Bank Building.jpg
| alt =
| caption = The International Savings & Exchange Bank Building, which stood at the SW corner of Temple & Spring in downtown Los Angeles
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| building_type =
| architectural_style = Renaissance Revival/Italianate
| structural_system = steel frame
| cost =
| client = International Savings & Exchange Bank, Inc.
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| location =
| address = 226 North Spring Street
| location_town = Los Angeles, California
| location_country = United States
| coordinates = {{Coord|34.0542|N|118.2433|W|region:US-CA_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| start_date = 1906
| completion_date = 1907
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| floor_count = 10
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| main_contractor =
| architect = H. Alban Reaves
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}}
The International Savings & Exchange Bank Building (also known as the International Savings Building), was built in the Spring Street Financial District of Los Angeles in 1907. Standing ten floors, it was designed in the Renaissance Revival and Italianate styles by architect H. Alban Reaves (some sources spell Reeves), who had previously designed several structures in New York, including what is now the south building of the historic Schuyler Arms.
It stood at 223–229 North Spring Street, the southwest corner of Temple and Spring across Temple from the Main Post Office, and was featured in several postcards from the 1920s.A Visit to Old Los Angeles, Section 5: Spring Street 9 (Part 1.) by Brent C. Dickerson [http://www.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal3.html] Occupying the ground floorA History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles and Environs, Volume 2 by James Miller Guinn, page 390. Los Angeles Historic Record Co. 1915. was the International Savings & Exchange Bank, “an institution much in favor among foreign born and descended residents,”Los Angeles, the Old and the New, by Scott Winfield. Pg. 67. Copyright 1911 J.E. Scott which had been incorporated four years earlier in 1903.Attorneys & Bankers Directory of California, 1908-09, pg 90. In later years it served as the City Health Building.
Demolition
In 1928, the building was dwarfed by the new 30-story Los Angeles City Hall. The building was purchased by the city to be razed to complete landscaping for city hall. However, the City Health department found a home in the building for the next twenty-five years. It was not demolished until December 1954, when new City Health offices were built.{{cite news |title=Wreckers Put Hammer to Old Health Building |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/61656042/international-savings-exchange-bank/ |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 30, 1954}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/385818844/|title=Old Health Temple Will Give Up Ghost|date=October 11, 1954|first=Ray|last=Parker|work=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/30271309/"|title=Building with "Career" Soon Coming Down|publisher=Valley Times|date=October 14, 1954}} The portion of Spring Street that its front entrance faced no longer exists.
Role in ''Safety Last!''
This building is one of three that was featured in the 1923 Harold Lloyd film, Safety Last!. The ten-floor International Savings Building is presented in the film as “the 12-story Bolton Building” and is the setting for the story’s “DeVore Department Store.” The interior store scenes at ground level were not filmed at the International Savings Bank Building but at Ville de Paris, a department store at 712 South Olive at 7th Street.
For several years it has been incorrectly reported that the building shown in both the film and photo stills was the 12-story Beaux Arts-styled Brockman building, designed by St. Louis architects Barnett, Haynes & Barnett in 1911American Architect and Architecture, published 1912, New York. Volume 102, page 168: “Application has been filed in the city building department by John Brockman … for a permit to erect a 12-story Class A store and office structure on the corner of W. 7th St. and Grand Ave. The building was designed by Architects Barnett, Haynes & Barnett, of St. Louis.” [https://books.google.com/books?id=0YxMAAAAYAAJ&dq=Brockman+building+barnett&pg=PA168-IA6]California Office of Historic Preservation, Department of Parks & Recreation, Brockman Application for National Register of Historic Places, Page 11: “According to Henry F. and Elsie Withey’s 1956 Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased), the Brockman Building is considered to be among the respected firm’s [Barnett, Haynes & Barnett] greatest achievements.”[http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1067/files/brockman%20building_nr%20nom.pdf]
(some sources say 1921) and still standing today at 530 West Seventh Street at Grand Avenue. Only the roof of the Brockman Building was used for Safety Last!, but the Brockman itself is not seen in the movie. Although the two buildings look nothing alike, this erroneous understanding has appeared in numerous sources, including The Los Angeles Times, Daily Variety, Los Angeles Business Journal, and countless real estate websites.“New Hopes Hung on Building,” by Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2004.“New Line Home Entertainment introduces Harold Lloyd DVD set,” by Shira Gotshalk. Daily Variety, November 1, 2005.Los Angeles Business Journal; Danny King, September 10, 2003.
Image:IS&EB building facade in Safety Last!.jpg
The International Savings Building was used for all of the long shots showing Lloyd’s character scaling its exterior. Medium and close shots were executed using a full-scale replica of two floors of the International Savings Building’s façade, placed on a platform on the rooftop of the L. L. Burns Western Costume Co. building at 908 S. Broadway{{Cite web|url=https://silentlocations.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/safety-last-mr-epsteins-writing-on-the-wall/|title=Safety Last! Mr. Epstein's Writing on the Wall|date=26 June 2011}} – making it appear that Lloyd’s character was hanging up to 12 stories over the sidewalk. (A similar method was used for 1921’s Terror Trail, wherein a building façade was reconstructed over the Hill Street Tunnel to give an illusion of grand height on film – while actually being only a story and a half above a solid surface.)Hollywood – The Pioneers, by Kevin Brownlow, 1979, page 139. {{ISBN|0-394-50851-3}}
The International Savings Building is seen clearly in a large photograph (showing a stuntman climbing it for Safety Last!) on page 140 of the book, Hollywood – The Pioneers by Kevin Brownlow (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1979).
See also
- Continental Building, Los Angeles' first high-rise building, built in 1903 and using the same architectural styles
- Los Angeles City Hall
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:International Savings and Exchange Bank Building}}
Category:Bank buildings in Los Angeles
Category:Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles
Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles
Category:Office buildings completed in 1907
Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1955
Category:Italianate architecture in California