The Second Street City Hall: Part 2 -- The City Hall Years (1885-89)

On July 4, 1885, Los Angeles celebrated Independence Day with a parade that ended at the city hall lot at Second and Spring, where bleachers had been built for the “literary exercises” (a reading of the Declaration of Independence, music, singing, poetry, and a speech) that followed.  The parade route was lined with as many as 15,000 people.  This was probably the first chance many Angelenos had to see the new city building after it was completed.

A little over a month later, on August 8, Los Angeles staged a funeral procession in honor of former President Ulysses S. Grant, who was buried in New York the same day.  A symbolic casket was taken from the black-draped Second Street City Hall and placed on a catafalque 18 feet long, 9 feet wide, and 16 feet high (and bedecked with two cannons and two piles of cannonballs).  It was escorted around downtown in a procession of 1,553 people, said to be the largest in the city’s history up to that time, with the possible exception of the nation’s centennial. 

The procession’s route again ended at the city hall lot for more literary exercises.  The grandstand (seating about 400, for dignitaries and two bands) was built up against the east and south sides of the old School No. 1, then in the process of being torn down.  The schoolhouse also had its sides draped in black; though obviously appropriate to the occasion, it was done largely to hide them.  The grandstand itself was draped with an American flag, apparently the largest in town, borrowed from the State Normal School. 

About 5,000 people squeezed into temporary bleachers 25 rows high that had been built around the city hall lot and which took up half of Second Street.  The Los Angeles Times noted that the bleachers had been designed to “easily” seat 4,000 people (with seats just 15 inches wide).  Another 1,200 or more took in the scene from seats between the grandstand and bleachers or some other viewpoint. “The procession, the grand stand with its great audience, and the catafalque, were all photographed by enterprising artists,” noted the Los Angeles Times the next day.  Sadly, none of those photos seems to be extant today. 

This photo looks west on Second from Spring and was almost certainly taken around the fall of 1886.  On the right is the Second Street City Hall.  This is apparently the best available photo of the building when it was owned by the city.  On the left side of the image is the domed, two-story Hollenbeck Block, which was expanded to four stories in the second half of 1887.

Behind the Hollenbeck is the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church.  At the very top of the steeple, above the ball, is a figure of the angel Gabriel.  That figure was removed in January 1887 and later replaced with a cross.

The California Bank Building opened in October 1887 on the southwest corner of Second and Fort (renamed Broadway in February 1890), across from the church.  We can’t see the building in this photo, but the trees on the corner have been removed, suggesting construction was imminent or just underway.

The Second Street City Hall: Part 1 -- Background and Construction

Introduction

Since 1853 there have been five buildings called Los Angeles City Hall.  The current city hall opened in 1928.  The fourth city hall, on the east side of Broadway between Second and Third Streets, was used for 39 years (1889-1928).  The third Los Angeles City Hall opened on Second Street in 1885.  It was the seat of city government for four years and also Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters for 11 years.  Despite these distinctions, the building is little-known.

The Second Street City Hall was designed by Los Angeles architect Robert Brown Young (1855-1914), who planned a three-story building at the northwest corner of Second and Spring, with a two-story wing of the main structure mid-block along Second Street.  However, only the two-story wing was ever built.  It was widely viewed as a failure soon after it was completed, and it eventually became a major civic embarrassment.  This may account for the apparent lack of an extant front-elevation photograph of the structure while it was owned by the city. 

When construction on the building began in late 1884, there was already standing a substantial, well-built brick building of two stories that had been Los Angeles City Hall.  So before getting into the story of the Second Street City Hall, a review of why it was built is in order.

Part 1:  Background and Construction

In August 1853, an adobe home that had been built in the 1820s at the northwest corner of Spring and Franklin Streets  was sold by Los Angeles merchant and landowner John Temple (1796-1866) to the city and to Los Angeles County for a city hall and courthouse (the site is now mostly under Spring Street by the southwest corner of the current City Hall).  The city owned a one-quarter interest in the property, and the county owned a three-quarters interest.  A brick jail used by both the city and county was constructed behind the adobe in 1853, the first (non-adobe) brick building built in Los Angeles.  

This 1876 photo looks south on Spring Street from about Temple Street.  The building with the red dot on the roof, on the northwest corner of Spring and Franklin Streets, became Los Angeles City Hall in 1853.  Los Angeles City and County shared the building.  The taller building in the distance, below the green dot, is the city’s first synagogue, built in 1873.

Bring Me the Head of John Bryson

The Bryson-Bonebrake Block, commonly known as the Bryson Block, was located on the northwest corner of 

Second and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles.  Designed by architect Joseph Cather Newsom, it was 

built in 1888, remodeled in 1903, and torn down in 1934.  Upon its completion, the Bryson Block was widely 

held to be the most prominent office building in Los Angeles.

Two-thirds of the building’s $224,000 cost -- the 103 x 120-foot lot cost another $120,000 -- was provided by 

John Bryson (1819-1907) and one-third by George Bonebrake (1837-1898).  Bryson and Bonebrake were 

Vice President and President, respectively, of the Los Angeles National Bank and also the State Loan and 

Trust Company, the latter concern being headquartered in the Bryson Block.  In addition, Bryson was briefly 
Mayor of Los Angeles from December 10, 1888 to February 25, 1889, when the adoption of a new City Charter 
ended his term.

John Bryson 

George Bonebrake

In its original configuration, the Bryson Block was five and a half stories.  There was also a basement that was 

less than a full story below the level of the sidewalk, so sometimes the Bryson Block was said to originally be

six and a half stories.  This photo of the Bryson Block almost certainly was taken during the latter stages of its 
construction in late 1888 (note the scaffolding on its top half-story).  The Second Street side of the building is 
on the left, and the Spring Street side is on the right:

This photo of the Bryson with its many tall chimneys and flag-topped copper corner dome was 
taken c. 1890:

In the photo above, the building at the left edge is the Hollenbeck Hotel (1884-1932) on the southwest 

corner of Second and Spring. The building we see a bit of between the Bryson and the Hollenbeck was the 

Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters from 1885 to 1896; it had also been Los Angeles City Hall 
from 1885 to 1889 and, during the last sixth months of 1885, home of Confidence Engine Company No. 2, 
part of L.A.'s then-all-volunteer fire department.  Below, on the left side of the Bryson Block, we see the old 
City Hall/LAPD HQ after an 1897 renovation that included removing the tower from which Confidence Engine 
Company No. 2's bell had briefly hung.

Bryson Block, c. 1898-1902

The Bryson Block was remodeled in 1903 when its roof was removed, and the original top half-story was 
replaced with two complete upper floors:

Bryson Block, 1905

Let’s take a closer look at some of the building’s incredible architectural detail from the previous photo.  

I'm not sure what those two heads on the Spring Street side (near the bottom of the closeup below) are 

supposed to be:

Nor am I exactly sure what these snarling whatever-they-ares are:

But there’s one bit of ornamentation on the Bryson Block whose meaning we can be sure of.  Look at the top
of the arch on the fourth floor (which, if you count the basement level, is the fifth floor) above Spring Street:

This is why that arch is important:

September 4, 1888, Los Angeles Times

 

Here is John Bryson's head as keystone of the arch, next to his building's name:

This photo was taken in 1934, just before the Bryson Block was demolished.  If you look closely, you can see 

John Bryson’s head still looking down on Spring Street:

Bryson Block, 1934

This post has been updated.

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Image Credits:

Bryson Block UC -- P-010-0499 @ Seaver Center, Los Angeles County Natural History Museum
John Bryson  -- 00034066 @ Los Angeles Public Library

George Bonebrake -- CHS-3995 @ USC Digital Library

Bryson Block c. 1890 -- 2007-0210 @ California State Library

Bryson Block c. 1898-1902 -- 00019231 @ Los Angeles Public Library

Bryson Block 1905 -- CHS-5289 @ USC Digital Library
Los Angeles Times article -- ProQuest via Los Angeles Public Library
Bryson Block 1934 -- 00068410 @ Los Angeles Public Library