University Park Archives

#166: Miller & Herriott House (University Park)

August 3, 2023

The Miller & Herriott House is a primo Eastlake Victorian, built ca. 1890 as a model home for the North University Park neighborhood, near USC. As the oldest standing home in the Harper tract, it has a lot to teach us about how the area has developed over time.

#162: Second Church of Christ, Scientist (University Park)

July 10, 2023

Architecture

This grand neoclassical edifice was designed by Alfred Rosenheim for the second Christian Science congregation in LA. Built in 1910, it was sold to the Art of Living Foundation in 2009.

#151: Casa de Rosas (University Park)

May 10, 2023

Architecture

Built in 1893, Casa de Rosas was the first project by architect Sumner Hunt, who's also credited with the Bradbury Building, the Automobile Club of Southern California and many other classics. It's also housed many important tenants over the years: the Froebel Institute, one of the first kindergartens in LA; a WWII army barracks, LA's first mission catering to women, even the headquarters of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics Foundation.

#147: Seaman-Foshay House (University Park)

April 12, 2023

Architecture

This exuberant Queen Anne-Eastlake style Victorian home from 1887 was one of the earliest houses built in the fashionable St. James Park neighborhood, just north of USC. We're not 100% sure who designed it, but we know it was home (at different times) to two of LA's most eminent educators, whose professional lives intertwined in a number of ways.

#123: Natural History Museum (Exposition Park)

October 23, 2022

Architecture

The Natural History Museum is justifiably famous for its awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons and taxidermied animals. But did you know it was also an art museum for 50 years? Or that Exposition Park was once a hotbed of illicit activity like drinking, gambling and...camel racing?