1221 West Adams Boulevard


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  • Built in 1894 as a single-story house on Lot 4 in Block 2 of the Urmston Tract by William J. Gunby of Ontario, who in late 1894 came to Los Angeles from San Bernardino County to partner briefly with real estate developer Leonard Merrill
  • The Los Angeles Times of September 15, 1894, reported that "W. J. Gunby will build a cottage on Adams street" to cost $1,500; the Times of December 30, 1894, reported that Gunby had just sold the completed house to Ontario lumber dealer and contractor Joseph H. Waddingham Jr., who was also moving into the city and its bigger market to get into real estate development. Waddingham did not live at 1221 himself, renting the house instead to a few short-term tenants before selling it to investor Diana Forbes-Fisher in 1897. Mrs. Forbes-Fisher was also acquiring 1223 West Adams next door, a cottage of similar size
  • Diana Forbes-Fisher would be associated with both 1221 and 1223 West Adams during the next decade. After renting the house for several years while traveling, she took up residence at 1221 by 1902. In 1907 Mrs. Forbes-Fisher would raise the building a full floor to create a duplex; during the reconstruction process she resided at 1223, which she would would sell by early 1917
  • On July 22, 1907, the Department of Buildings issued Diana Forbes-Fisher a permit for a radical remodeling to create a duplex out of the original cottage at 1221 West Adams. Hiring in-demand architect Lester S. Moore to design, she had the building lifted nine feet, two inches to accommodate six new rooms underneath the original structure, bringing it closer to its current configuration
  • Fire damaged the roof of 1221 West Adams in 1909; the Department of Buildings issued Diana Forbes-Fisher a permit for repairs on December 18
  • The Department of Buildings issued Diana Forbes-Fisher a permit on June 28, 1920, for alterations to the west side of 1221 West Adams; the first floor of what is referred to on the permit as a bow window was to be flattened to allow better access along the driveway to the rear of the house
  • Diana Forbes-Fisher sold 1221 West Adams to chiropractor Edward Morris Gold in 1925
  • On December 15, 1925, what was now called the Department of Building and Safety issued Dr. Gold a permit to enclose an unspecified porch
  • The cottage that had been duplexed by raising it a full floor in 1907 would become a fourplex in 1931 after the Department of Building and Safety issued Dr. Gold a permit for another major remodeling of 1221 West Adams on October 6 of that year. The document specified "Extending 2 rooms & adding 2 rooms & one bath room, changing stairs to center of building & changing front to stucco." This brought 1221 still closer to its current configuration
  • Dr. Gold's conversion of 1221 West Adams into a fourplex necessitated a renumbering of several houses on the block, resulting in his building taking the address of 1223 next door as well as that of 1225; the original 1223 West Adams became 1229 and the original 1225 became 1235
  • By 1936, Edward Gold had changed careers, having become the proprietor of a Boyle Heights produce market. Gold and his family were still in possession of and still living at 1221 West Adams in 1941; their address in the building was 1223½. By the next year Dr. Gold had resumed his chiropractic practice, but the family was living in Glendale
  • Ownership of 1221-1223-1225 West Adams becomes unclear after the departure of the Golds. It may be that they retained the building for rental income after their move to Glendale, at least until 1951, when a new owner is recorded on building permits regarding the property
  • On May 14, 1951, the Department of Building and Safety issued Hum Fay Yook a permit for termite-damage repairs on the garage at 1221-1223-1225 West Adams. Yook appears to have been a real estate investor who did not live on the property
  • By 1954, 1221-1223-1225 West Adams was owned by Frances Munoz Emnas. She would live at 1223½ and retain the property into the mid 1970s
  • On September 3, 1999, the Department of Building and Safety issued owner Leticia Arreola of Diamond Bar a permit to sandblast the building and to change some windows; on October 2, 2006, the agency issued owner Bianca Fernandez of Hawthorne a permit to replace windows
  • USC Adams LLC has owned 1221-1223-1225 West Adams since at least 2014



Illustration: Private Collection