1404 West Adams Street


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  • Built circa 1914 on a parcel comprised of the west 60 feet of Lots 1, 2, and 3 of the Plymouth Tract by the Diocese of Monterey–Los Angeles
  • Described variously as a church residence and a convent, the building was part of a long-delayed expansion of St. Agnes's campus after the dedication of St. Agnes Catholic Church on Thanksgiving Day 1907. A one-story parish hall, originally built as a temporary sanctuary, remained adjacent to the new church until January 1912, when it was moved to the southwest corner of Jefferson Street (now Boulevard) and Gramercy Place (and demolished in 1958); 1404 West Adams took its place between the church and the church-owned 1424 and remains the only structure still standing of St. Agnes's original buildings with Adams Boulevard frontage   
  • In August 1903, the Diocese of Monterey–Los Angeles announced the formation of three new parishes in the latter city, one of which was St. Agnes, which had purchased property along Adams Street west of Vermont Avenue. The Times of August 16 reported that the diocese had bought four lots at the northwest corner of Adams and Budlong Avenue; on September 3, the Herald reported that this parcel had been exchanged for one at the southwest corner of Adams and Vermont, where, pending more permanent arrangements, a temporary church was already being built, with the first services expected to be held there on October 4. The Herald noted that "This chapel is the forerunner of a splendid church structure which will be erected within a reasonable time." In addition to the parcel of three lots at Adams and Vermont, the 1898 residences at 1424 and 1428 West Adams would be purchased in the name of St. Agnes's rector, Clement Molony, who would occupy 1424. In December 1905, St. Agnes broke ground for an imposing Gothic Revival sanctuary, designed by the Boston firm of Maginnis, Walsh & Sullivan and distinguished by twin 150-foot steeples facing Adams; it was dedicated on Thankgiving Day two years later (this neighborhood landmark would be demolished and replaced with a service station in 1961). St. Agnes had plans by then for the residence/convent adjacent to the church—later to be addressed 1404 West Adams—and the St. Agnes Parish School slated for a parcel comprised of the sites of 1428 and 1432 West Adams (the latter built circa 1900 on Lot 32 of the Plymouth Tract) and the additional westward Lot 33. The school would not actually open for classes until the fall of 1914 in a building designed by Albert C. Martin; the residence/convent house in a more domestic, less-institutional English Revival style also appears to have been opened in 1914, and was also, it seems, designed by A. C. Martin. The Diocese of Monterey–Los Angeles sold 1428 and 1432 West Adams—the structures themselves, that is, which would be relocated; 1432 was trucked eight blocks south to Tallman Street (both house and street later vanishing for the University Gardens housing project completed in 1971), with its garage shifted to the rear of the church's 1424. 1428 was moved up Adams to the southeast corner of Juliet Street to become 1516 West Adams 
  • While no specific demolition permit has been found, 1424 West Adams remained standing until St. Agnes School was expanded over its site in 1925. The school was demolished in 1960, the church in 1961, leaving only the church residence remaining of St. Agnes's original buildings along Adams Boulevard 




St. Agnes Church stood for 54 years as a towering landmark
at the southwest corner of Adams Boulevard and Vermont Avenue.
The St. Agnes Parish School, built in 1914 and expanded 11 years later
to its west as well as east over the site of 1424 West Adams, was razed
in 1960. The church residence, at top and in yellow below, remains
the only original presence of St. Agnes facing Adams today




Illustrations: Private Collection; LOC