Superior Oil Company Building

The marble-clad Superior Oil Company Building was constructed from 1955–1956 as an office building by the Keck family[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-jan-25-fi-57440-story.html "'50s-Era Downtown High-Rise Slated to Be Turned Into Hotel"], Jesus Sanchez, Los Angeles Times, January 25, 2000 to serve as the headquarters for the Superior Oil Company.{{Cite web|url=https://www.standardhotels.com/la/properties/downtown-la|title=Downtown Los Angeles Boutique Hotels | The Standard, Downtown LA | Hotels in Downtown LA|website=www.standardhotels.com|date=5 December 2023 }} Designed by Claud Beelman in the Late Moderne style, the 12-story structure was built by The William Simpson Construction Company. The tower's design has been described as showing "how the oft-overlooked Beelman advanced the type and style of mid-century office buildings." It was given distinctive marble, granite, and stainless-steel surfaces. The building's design featured motifs particular to Superior Oil, including stylized "S" door pulls for the entrances and a bas-relief-style metal sculpture of an oilfield and refinery landscape above the Flower Street entrance interior. According to the Los Angeles Times, it became "one of the area's most significant examples of the postwar modernism style popular in corporate architecture during the 1950s."

The LA Conservancy calls the building "one of the finest examples of the Corporate Moderne style in Los Angeles and stands out as one of the strongest designs of architect Claud Beelman’s later career."[https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/standard-downtown-la "The Standard, Downtown LA"], laconservancy.org The architecture represents a "simplified, abstracted redefinition" of Beelman's earlier explorations in the Late Moderne styles, also incorporating Modernist principles to "create a refined new corporate idiom." The building uses steel framing and a "pier and spandrel system" similar to those pioneered by Louis Sullivan. In a twist, however, the piers are clad in white marble and the recessed spandrels are ribbed stainless steel between window spaces, emphasizing the vertical nature of the architecture.

In 1963, the building became the southern California headquarters of the Bank of California, and for a time the building was called the Bank of California Building. The building was vacated in 1992, after the Bank of California was merged into Union Bank of California.

By 2000, local preservation groups were expressing worries that the vacant structure would be gutted and used as a telecommunications switching station, like other office buildings in the area. In January 2000, it was reported that the Union Bank of California had sold the building to William Gustafson and Mark Neumann's Columbia Development, "a Manhattan Beach-based hotel investment and development firm," for an undisclosed sum. With backing from local preservation groups, it was to be the "central city's first major new hotel in nearly a decade."

Columbia Development Group, in partnership with Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Partners and Standard Holdings, converted the office building into a hotel operated by The Standard Hotels chain, run by Andre Balazs, which had opened its first boutique hotel in Hollywood in 1999. The conversion was designed by Koning Eizenberg Architecture, Inc.[http://www.aialosangeles.org/map-la-design-hotels/the-standard#.Wn9Ysq2ZORs "The Standard"], American Institute of Architects, November 16, 2012 and was constructed by Sam Martel of Taisei Construction. Christy McAvoy of Historical Resources Group was the historic preservation consultant.

The Standard Downtown LA opened in May 2002{{Cite web | url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1204560/000095015003000460/a84823a2exv99w4.txt | title=OFFICE MARKET STUDY | website=www.sec.gov}} as a 207-room boutique hotel, with a rooftop pool and bar with space for DJs[https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/los-angeles-best-hotel-pools/index.html "L.A. hotel pools: 6 that make a real splash"], Jordan Rane, CNN, October 20, 2017 and pool parties, a beer garden, a ping pong club, a 24-hour coffee shop and a lobby lounge. In 2011, Los Angeles Weekly included the building's rooftop restaurant as number 5 on its "Top 10 Restaurants in Buildings Designed by Significant Los Angeles Architects" list.[http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/top-10-restaurants-in-buildings-designed-by-significant-los-angeles-architects-2383471 "Top 10 Restaurants in Buildings Designed by Significant Los Angeles Architects"], Jessica Ritz, Los Angeles Weekly, January 26, 2011 The pool on the roof has three "water-bed cabanas housed in plastic pods that resemble something out of a 1960s sci-fi movie."[http://www.laweekly.com/best-of/2013/arts-and-entertainment/best-pool-parties-2694804 "The Standard Downtown L.A. – Best Of :: Arts & Entertainment"], Jennifer Swann, Los Angeles Weekly, 2013

In 2003, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places based on its architecture, particularly its moderne style and engineering. Also in 2003, The Standard Hotel Downtown was awarded the Los Angeles Conservancy's preservation award, for "bringing a youthful buzz to a 1955 modernist skyscraper on Flower Street downtown."[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-mar-30-ca-artsnotes30-story.html "Preservation projects praised"], Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2003

In 2009, the operator of the Standard Hotel was charged with dumping pool chemicals into the street below in a violation of federal environmental laws.[https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/losangeles/press-releases/2009/la012909ausa.htm "Operator of Standard Hotel in Los Angeles Charged in Dumping of Chemicals that Caused Illnesses in Subway"], January 29, 2009, FBI Standard Hotel pled guilty for the incident in 2010.[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/standard-hotel-pleads-guilty-to-dumping-pool-chemicals-down-rooftop-drain.html "Standard Hotel pleads guilty to dumping pool chemicals down rooftop drain"], Corina Knoll, Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2010 A shooting resulted in a death outside the hotel lobby in 2015.[http://abc7.com/news/1-killed-in-shooting-outside-the-standard-hotel-in-dtla/1120893 "1 killed in shooting outside The Standard Hotel in downtown Los Angeles"], ABC, December 13, 2015[http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/12/13/1-dead-in-shooting-at-standard-hotel-in-downtown-los-angeles/ "1 Dead, 1 Paralyzed In Shooting Inside Lobby Of Standard Hotel In Downtown Los Angeles"], CBS, December 13, 2015 In 2016, an injured bystander to the shootout sued the hotel, alleging insufficient security.[http://www.lawattstimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3621:man-sues-standard-hotel-in-dowtown-l-a-for-2015-shooting&catid=11&Itemid=126 "Man Sues Standard Hotel in Dowtown [sic] L.A. for 2015 Shooting"], LA Watts Times, June 2, 2016 In May 2017, the food festival Smorgasburg LA debuted a popup residency at the Standard Hotel.[http://laist.com/2017/05/15/smorgasburg_la_pop_up.php "Smorgasburg LA Is Debuting A Rooftop Pop-Up At The Standard"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171109111635/http://laist.com/2017/05/15/smorgasburg_la_pop_up.php |date=2017-11-09 }}, Oren Peleg, LAist, May 15, 2017[http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/smorgasburg-los-angeles-is-now-open-monday-nights-at-the-standard-hotel-downtown-8224673 "Smorgasburg Is Coming to The Standard Hotel Downtown"], Katherine Spiers, LA Weekly, May 13, 2017

The hotel closed temporarily in early 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2021, it was announced that the closure would be permanent as of January 22, 2022.{{Cite web|url=https://therealdeal.com/la/2021/12/20/downtown-las-standard-hotel-to-shutter-permanently/|title=Downtown LA's Standard Hotel To Close For Good In January|date=December 20, 2021|website=The Real Deal Los Angeles}}

The hotel reopened on April 1, 2023 as the Delphi Hotel.{{Cite web | url=https://www.costar.com/article/2905064/trendy-downtown-los-angeles-hotel-that-shuttered-in-the-pandemic-now-reopening | title=Trendy Downtown Los Angeles Hotel That Shuttered in the Pandemic Now Reopening | website=www.costar.com }}

• The building entrance and exterior served as the fictional Brent Building in the television series Perry Mason (1957–1966) in which Mason's office[http://perrymasontvseries.com/pml-brent.htm "The Brent Building"], Perry Mason TV Series was located in Suite 904.
• In the 1987 film RoboCop the building can be seen in the 6000 SUX car commercial.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
• Significant portions of the 2005 film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang were filmed outside the hotel and in the hotel's lobby, guest rooms, coffee shop, and rooftop bar/pool.{{cite web |url=https://www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/KissKissBangBang.shtml |title=Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: Filming Locations |website=www.seeing-stars.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509170323/http://www.seeing-stars.com/Locations/KissKissBangBang.shtml |archive-date=2008-05-09}}
• The building was featured in the 2010 film Get Him to the Greek.
• In the 2015 film San Andreas, the building collapsed during an earthquake.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
• The building was featured in the 2018 film Under the Silver Lake.

• List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles

{{reflist}}

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• [https://www.thedelphihotel.com/ The Delphi Hotel official website]
• [https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/standard-downtown-la LA Conservancy]
• [http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/examiner-m3340.html USC Digital Library: New Superior Oil building, 6th & Flower St., Los Angeles, 1956]
• [http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/view/examiner-m3345.html USC Digital Library: Superior Oil Building, 550 S. Flower St., Los Angeles, 1957]

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Category:Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles

Category:Skyscraper hotels in Los Angeles

Category:Oil company headquarters in the United States

Category:ExxonMobil buildings and structures

Category:Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments

Category:Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles

Category:Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles

Category:Office buildings completed in 1956

Category:1955 establishments in California

Category:1950s architecture in the United States

Category:Modernist architecture in California

Category:Hotels established in 2002

Category:Hotels established in 2023

Category:Hotel buildings completed in 1956