608 East Adams Boulevard

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  • Built in 1907 on Lot 11 in Block 1 of Daman & Millard's Subdivision of the Shaw Tract by real estate investor Mary Boyd Case; on April 1 of that year, she was issued a permit by the Department of Buildings for a 12-room duplex on the site  
  • Canadian-born Mary Case was widowed in December 1894; her husband George, a sawyer at the W. H. Perry Lumber and Mill Company and a poultry breeder, was just 44. Mrs. Case wasted no time in moving from the couple's home at 2110 Santee Street; on June 26, 1895, she purchased, for $750, Lot 11 in Block 1 of Daman & Millard's Subdivision of the Shaw Tract, one of the new offerings in the rapidly developing South Los Angeles district, and soon began building what would be her first project on the property. The new house was numbered 612 East Adams Street rather than 608. Mrs. Case offered Santee Street for rent after 612 was completed in the fall 
  • In 1900 Mary Case was living with her two sons, Albert and George, her daughter Lillian, and her brother George Boyd at 612 East Adams; after 10 years in the house, she decided to replace it. Having been issued a permit by the Superintendent of Buildings on March 22, 1906, Mrs. Case had the house moved six blocks south to Lot 118 of the Ford Tract, where it sits today as 508 East 32nd Street, seen below
  • Once it was situated on its new lot on East 32nd, Mary Case moved back into her old house for the time being. Her plan for its vacated lot on East Adams resulted in the 1907 duplex in the anti-Victorian American Foursquare style that sits at 608 East Adams today. The "612" address would be reassigned to the bungalow next door being planned by purchasing agent Richard E. Small and completed in early 1908
  • Once 608 East Adams was completed, Mary Case moved into it from East 32nd Street. She would remain at 608 for the next 33 years
  • In 1912, no doubt in response to the popularity of the neighborhood, Mrs. Case decided to exploit her property further by turning her duplex into a fourplex. On October 28 of that year she was issued a permit by the Department of Buildings for the conversion. While the work was being completed, she rented 740 East Adams nearby
  • On November 2, 1923, the Department of Buildings issued Mary Case a permit to add a large (18 by 36 foot) garage to the property; this was demolished at an unknown date
  • Mrs. Case's daughter Lillian, a stenographer, married salesman Edward Merrell in May 1913; their daughter Frances was born the following March. By 1920 Lillian was divorced and living with Frances in Honolulu, though they soon returned to live with her mother at 608 East Adams and would remain until the family left the house, moving to 1820 Alsace Avenue in today's Mid-City by early 1940. Mary Case died in Los Angeles on July 7, 1944. (Her birth date varies in records between 1850 and 1860, with the former appearing to be the most accurate)
  • The Case family may have retained 608 East Adams as rental property after leaving, if it wasn't sold to someone who did; all four units (608, 608½, 610, and 610½) were being rented out by April 1940. During frenzied celebrations at the opening of Union Station on May 3, 1939, 55-year-old Grace Birch of 610 was reported in the Times the next day as having broken her leg
  • By mid 1948, one apartment at 608-610 East Adams was occupied by former metal-industry worker Edward Guillaume and his companion, Bessie Glass. Given their lengthy tenancy, Guillaume and Glass may have become the owners of the house. Edward was still living there when he died at the age of 87 on May 15, 1969; his name still appeared in the 1973 Los Angeles city directory. Bessie died in January of that year a few weeks shy of her 92nd birthday. Other longtime tenants of the house (and possible owners) were Thomas C. Lawson of 610½, who resided in that apartment from at least 1952 until at least 1973, and Theoplis Ervin, who was listed at 610 East Adams in the 1960 city directory. Ervin was still listed—though now at 608½—in the 1987 issue, though by then the apartment may have been occupied by a family member given that he appears to have died on November 5, 1982
  • 608 East Adams Boulevard was last sold in 2011


Built in 1895 as 612 East Adams Street six blocks north (north per the 28° easterly tilt of the city's
grid in these precincts) on the site now occupied by 608 East Adams, 508 East 32nd Street has
been on its current lot since 1906. Though altered, the house remains a contributor to
the charming cottage (and largely unsung) atmosphere of South Los Angeles.


Illustrations: Private Collection