1012 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built in 1902 on Lot 5 of Grider & Dow's Adams Street Tract by contractor Frank Baiersky
  • Frank Baiersky worked with real estate operator Oscar Leuschner; on October 18, 1902, the Superintendent of Buildings issued Baiersky a permit for the construction of a six-room cottage on Lot 5; on February 15, 1903, the Los Angeles Herald reported that Leuschner had just purchased "the fine residential property of Frank Baiersky at 1012 East Adams" and that he would soon occupy it as his own residence
  • Frank Baiersky and Oscar Leuschner both appear to have been less than personally or professionally reputable. For his part, Baiersky, who had built 1008 East Adams next door to the west in 1901, would soon be sued for divorce by his wife on the grounds of extreme cruelty, with Mary Baiersky citing in her complaint her having been subject to verbal and physical abuse—her husband was prone to striking her in the face—and for not providing enough for her and their invalid son to eat. Mrs. Baiersky got to keep 1008; Frank Baiersky's working relationship with Leuschner appears to have come to and end shortly after the completion of 1012
  • Neither did Oscar Leuschner appear to have scruples when it came to organizing his domestic arrangements or his real estate business, which appears to have been built on a scheme devised in his days as a domestic servant in Redondo Beach. There in 1898 he was in service with Miss Victoria Young, who by saving her earnings had previously purchased Lot 42 in Grider & Dow's Adams Street Tract in Los Angeles. When she brought suit against Leuschner in January 1903, just before he bought 1012, she claimed that she understood that she was engaged to him, which allowed her to be persuaded to swap Lot 42 for property variously described as being in Southern California or in Lassen County but apparently not owned by Leuschner at all. She was expecting her fiancé to build a house for them on Lot 42; as it turned out, he had taken the deed, and after filing it with the city on November 12, 1898, sold it to 20-year-old Miss Minnie Leischner, who lived above her father's Spring Street bakery and whose name was curiously one vowel away from that of her secret 11-years-older benefactor—who then built 723 East 27th Street on it in 1899, which was retained as rental property. Interestingly, Minnie took out a $1000 mortgage on 723 East 27th (along with one for $1200 on another property) the month before Frank Baiersky began to build 1012, a transaction that did not go unnoticed by Victoria Young's lawyer (723 East 27th would stand around the corner from 1012 East Adams until 1973). Typically, Leuschner fought Miss Young's suit by denying her claim of a romantic relationship, throwing in character insults for good measure
  • The Leuschner-Leischner relationship, both professionally and personally, flourished, to a degree. Minnie Leischner herself was reported in the press as having bought and sold a number of properties between 1898 and 1902, rather obviously as something of a front for Oscar. Once in possession of 1012, Leuschner installed Minnie and her parents; after a delay caused by Mrs. Leischner's appendicitis, he and Minnie were married in the parlor of the house on June 23, 1903. After a two-week honeymoon, the couple moved in with her parents, giving themselves a reception at home on July 7. Julius Oscar Leuschner, the first of three sons, was born at 1012 on July 21, 1904, and christened there on September 25
  • Julia Leischner, Minnie Leuschner's 48-year-old mother, died at 1012 East Adams of complications of diabetes on February 17, 1906
  • On October 25, 1905, the Superintendent of Buildings issued Oscar Leuschner a permit to build a 1½-story, 14-by-24-foot barn at the rear of 1012 East Adams. This structure burned down, taking two horses with it, on the afternoon of September 17, 1909. A permit for its replacement was issued by the Superintendent of Buildings on December 24, 1910; this building also does not survive


During major work done more than a century after it was built in 1902, the interesting porch detail
of 1012 East Adams was preserved. Though there seems to be no builder link between 1012
and 1254 East Adams Boulevard, built five years later with a very similar porch design,
Henry McCabe, the contractor of 1254, lived and practiced in the neighborhood. 
 

  • While somewhat prominent as a real estate dealer, Oscar Leuschner had been changing business partners regularly, with lawsuits often involved in the rearrangements and with clients and neighbors. In March 1908, he was unsuccessful in a suit against Christina Duff for her allegedly having reneged on a deal. In a dispute in 1910, Leuschner was sued for having defrauded a lot buyer; in May 1916, he was fined for paying an employee with a worthless check. In November 1920, he was arrested for disturbing the peace and then proceeded to sue grocer Nathan Shapiro for $10,000 for having made a false charge. Domestically, things were more harmonious, his family remaining at 1012 East Adams with Mr. Leischner and the two daughters added to the family by 1920
  • On November 11, 1914, Oscar Leuschner was issued a permit by what was now called the Department of Buildings to add a 12-by-26-foot sleeping porch onto 1012, including a plumbing fixture and a gas outlet
  • Oscar and Minnie Leuschner would remain at 1012 East Adams for decades despite significant demographic changes in the neighborhood, with Oscar continuing in real estate into the 1930s. Minnie died in Los Angeles on June 26, 1935
  • On March 9, 1937, what was now called the Department of Building and Safety issued Oscar Leuschner a permit for 1012 East Adams to repair unspecified fire damage; on May 14, he received a permit to add a 14-by-14-foot addition to the kitchen, and on the following April 11 one to add a 5-by-8-foot bathroom
  • While the 1940 Federal census indicates that Oscar Leuschner was living alone at 1012, it also enumerates individuals living at both 1012¼ and 1012½, apparently units created by Leuschner in his 1937 renovations
  • Oscar Leuschner was still living at 1012 East Adams when he died at the age of 86 on August 24, 1952. His five children survived him. Interestingly, Fred Baiersky, the son of Frank Baiersky—the builder of 1012 and Leuschner's one-time partner—had remained living next door at 1008 East Adams until his death on July 27, 1951
  • By 1948 Raymond Leuschner had returned to live with his father at 1012 after the end of his first marriage; on November 12, 1952, seven weeks after Oscar's death, he married Lucy Delgado Newton at the West Adams Presbyterian Church. The newlyweds may have stayed briefly at 1012 before moving. If the Leuschners did not sell the house to someone who did, it could be that the family retained it as rental property afterward, perhaps as late as 1971; while city directories and other records do not list anyone at 1012 East Adams itself, a few renters are indicated at 1012¼ and 1012½, an Abe Greenblatt occupying the latter from 1952 until at least 1969
  • South Los Angeles real estate operator Cornelius W. Aubert appears to have acquired 1012 East Adams by the fall of 1971; on November 26 of that year he was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety—which indicated the three units on the lot as an "apartment house"—for work to legalize the 5-by-8-foot bathroom added in April 1938. Aubert then sold the property to a Dorothy Mason, who was listed at 1012 in the 1973 city directory, in which no one is listed at the partial addresses; by 1975, Mason had moved to the Mid-Wilshire District, though she retained 1012 East Adams, at least for a time
  • Dorothy Mason was issued several permits by the Department of Building and Safety in the spring of 1975 pertaining to 1012 East Adams. The first two, dated April 16 and May 5, were for repairs after unspecified fire damage; the second of these also authorized a change of use of the property from a multiple dwelling to a "single family residence." A second permit issued on May 5 allowed for "general repairs"
  • Classified advertisements appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel from August to November 1990 offering 1012 East Adams for sale: "VERY LARGE HOUSE: 10 rooms, four bedrooms, three baths, den and rumpus room, for only $160,000." The broker described 1012 as "ideal for a large family, child care center, or board and care house for the elderly"
  • By 2004, 1012 East Adams was owned by Eusebio Cortez, who began to make considerable upgrades to the property. The Department of Building and Safety issued him a permit on July 1, 2004, for interior improvements; on July 9, he was issued a permit authorizing the construction of a 20-by-20-foot garage two-car garage, although this appears to have been superseded by one issued on the following February 7 for a new dwelling to be built toward the rear alley—on the one-time site of the 1910 barn—a two-story, 32-by-21 single-family dwelling above three parking spaces
  • On September 26, 2005, Eusebio Cortez was issued a permit to apply stucco over the existing wood siding of the original 1902 house at 1012 East Adams, as well as for replacing all of its windows. Fortunately, much of the house's original detail was retained


Preparing 1012 East Adams for a second century involved building a separate new dwelling on the
lot, one accessible via the rear alley running between Paloma Street and Central Avenue.
The bathroom addition of 1938 can be seen at the left corner of the main house.



Illustrations: Private Collection; GSV