Added to the National Register of Historic Places September 20, 1984

If you were a successful muralist and interior designer hired to adorn many of the most cutting-edge buildings in Los Angeles, what kind of office would you want? If you were Anthony Heinsbergen, the answer would clearly be a gothic chateau, complete with a turret and a simulated wooden drawbridge next to a mini-moat full of fish and turtles. And obviously there is a stone lion mounted to the wall spitting water into the moat. Obviously. 

So who was this muralizing man of medieval mien? Anthony (born Antoon) Heinsbergen moved to LA from the Netherlands in 1906 as a young boy. He was one of the first art students at the Chouinard Art Institute, a precursor to CalArts, and developed a talent for large-scale murals. By the time Heinsbergen commissioned this glorious office for his decorating and design company in 1928, he was king of his own castle. His firm had recently painted the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the flagship United Artists Theatre, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, the Park Plaza Hotel (that’s its vaulted Heinsbergen ceiling in the very NSFW opening to David Lynch’s Wild at Heart) and more. The same year the Heinsbergen Decorating Company building opened, so did the “new” LA City Hall downtown, with several ceiling murals attributed to Mr. H himself. He was doing just fine.

To design his headquarters, Heinsbergen hired Alex Curlett & Claud Beelman, the same architects he had worked with on the Park Plaza Hotel. They’re also responsible for NRHP-listed standouts like the Garfield Building and the Pacific Electric Building downtown, and the beautiful Culver Hotel in Culver City. On his own, Beelman designed the landmark art deco Eastern Columbia Building, constructed just two years after this one.

You gotta imagine that Curlett & Beelman were inspired by the decorative flair of Mr. Heinsbergen when they conceived of this building. Every inch of the thing reeks of late gothic architectural bling, from the tiered cast stone arch at the entryway to the dragons, animals and glowering heads used as corbels throughout the facade. The colonettes that frame the middle window are topped by stone sculptures of two sages, who complete a large scale “H” along with the window frame and decorative frieze. Between the sculptures rests the insignia of the building’s current tenant, fashion designer Claire Pettibone; in the early days (though not right in the beginning), lettering proclaimed “A.T. Heinsbergen & Company,” with a smaller “Decorating / Planning / Design” to the left of the main entryway.  

Adding to the old world vibe of the Heinsbergen Decorating Company Building are the building materials themselves. Many of the narrow bricks date to the late 19th century, and were taken from the buildings that were demolished to make way for the 1928 City Hall building – some sources say there are bricks from the City Hall it replaced, embedded in the Heinsbergen building. The stone carvings were fresh as of the late 1920s, but they were deliberately scuffed to give it the appearance of age, like a stonework version of distressed jeans. 

Here are some amazing vintage pics of the Heinsbergen building from 1930, including a few of the interior:

For more than 50 years, Heinsbergen oversaw his booming business from this building. The company employed over 180 artists at its height. They would go on to design more than 750 theater interiors, including the Wiltern, the Warner Grand in San Pedro, and over 20 theaters around the country for entertainment impresario Alex Pantages (yep, Hollywood Pantages was one of them). When not on an active mural job his workers would often weave tapestries.

After Heinsbergen died in 1981, his son Tony took over the business and lived in the building’s penthouse. The company expanded into all sorts of interior design – carpeting, drapes and furniture, in addition to the artwork – and did a lot of work restoring their murals from decades prior. The rechristened A.T. Heinsbergen & Co. worked on high-profile restoration projects at the Los Angeles Central Library, the Mission Inn in Riverside and Carnegie Hall in New York City. 

Not long after the younger Heinsberg passed away in 2004, couturier Lloyd Klein leased the space from the Heinsberg family, and did some significant modernizing of the interior. Bridalwear designer Claire Pettibone took over in 2013. Thankfully both occupants have preserved the exterior as it was. Aside from replacing the leaded art glass with standard glass, and some statues that were removed (there’s a king missing from the pedestal to the left of the entrance), it looks pretty much exactly as it did in the late ‘20s. 

There is so much to admire about the Heinsbergen Decorating Company Building, but my favorite section is the cylindrical tower on the west side of the building, part watchtower, part prison, all style. Those two hunched gnomes supporting the stone arch? AMAZING. There’s a renaissance-style painting of an artisan with a painter’s cap on just beneath the arch, emblazoned with the words “Heinsbergen Studios” – a direct connection to the original owner. And if you look up, you’ll see a haughty stone mascaron (decorative human head) staring down at you, judging you for whatever you’re wearing.

My daughter was most enamored with the “moat” out front, an enclosed pond full of fish and turtles. It’s a lovely little environment of life and movement in a building that’s otherwise all about long-dead things, frozen in time.  

Recommended Reading:

+Heinsbergen Decorating Company’s NRHP Nomination form

+How L.A.’s ‘Old’ City Hall Got Reborn As a Medieval Castle for Artisans, Brick by Brick (Avoiding Regret, 2020)

+Old Firm Keeps Young Remolding Past: Theaters and Hotels Among Its Major Restoration Projects (LA Times, 1985)

+Anthony T. Heinsbergen, 74; Restored the Interior Splendor of Landmarks (LA Times, 2004)

+The Theatre at ACE Hotel (Historictheatrephotos.com)

+Anthony Heinsbergen (Theatre Historical Society of America)

+Lloyd Klein Milestones: 1998-2005 (LloydKlein.com)