1154 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built circa 1897 on Lot 144 of Grider & Dow's Subdivision of the Briswalter Tract. The parcel had changed hands at least twice in 1896; it appears to have been real estate investor Lemuel N. Brown who improved the lot that year or the next with the house addressed 1154 East Adams Street. It seems that Brown, who lived nearby on East 28th Street, built 1154 as rental property. The first occupant—for just a year—was John C. Lenk, who was listed at 1154 East Adams in the 1897 city directory. Lenk was at the time a salesman for the local branch of the San Francisco–based Morgan Oyster Company ("oysters, fish, game and poultry")
  • Over the next 40 years, city directories record a succession of over 21 individuals or families occupying 1154 East Adams. Before he built 1008 East Adams up the street later in the year, builder Frank Baiersky rented the house during the spring and summer of 1901. Although the seller is not indicated, the Herald carried a classified advertisement on December 15, 1901, offering 1154 for sale ("5 rooms, modern"); on March 24, 1902, the Times reported that commission merchant David C. Henderson had bought it "and now occupies it with his family." The Hendersons were living on Trinity Street by the time the 1903 directory was issued. There were many more tenants before a Mrs. Edith Buckner was indicated as the owner on a permit issued by the Department of Building and Safety on February 14, 1947, for a 12-by-16-foot two-room addition to the rear
  • While one of the most charming of the many cottages of its size built in the district straddling East Adams, its fate is by no means certain, given the housing shortage of modern Los Angeles. A 126-year-old house of similar size—444 East Adams—was demolished in December 2018, its whole lot immediately exploited with two large duplexes



Illustration: Private Collection