Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles, originally built as the California Petroleum Corporation Building and later known as the Texaco Building, is a , 13-story
highrise
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
hotel and theater building located at 937 South Broadway in downtown
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. It was the tallest building in the city for one year after its completion in 1927, and was the tallest privately owned structure in Los Angeles until 1956. Its style is
Spanish Gothic
Spanish Gothic architecture is the style of architecture prevalent in Spain in the Late Medieval period.
The Gothic style started in Spain as a result of Central European influence in the twelfth century when late Romanesque alternated with few ...
, patterned after
Segovia Cathedral
Segovia Cathedral is the Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral located in the main square ( Plaza Mayor) of the city of Segovia, in the community of Castile-Leon, Spain. The church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was built in the Flamboyant Goth ...
in
Segovia
Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia.
Segovia is in the Inner Plateau (''Meseta central''), near the northern slopes of th ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
.
The building contains the historic United Artists Theatre, the flagship theater built for the
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
motion picture studio. The theater was later used as a church by pastors
Gene Scott
William Eugene Scott (August 14, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was an American minister and teacher who served for almost 50 years as a pastor and broadcaster in Los Angeles, California. He pastored the Faith Center and Wescott Christian Center ...
and his widow
Melissa Scott
Melissa Scott (born 1960, in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American science fiction and fantasy author noted for her science fiction novels featuring LGBT characters and elaborate settings.
Biography
Scott studied history at Harvard College and B ...
under the name "University Cathedral". In October 2011, Scott's Wescott Christian Center Inc. sold the building to Greenfield Partners, a real estate investment company located in
Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History
...
, for $11 million.
It was converted to a hotel, and opened in 2014. The hotel is part of the
Ace Hotel
Ace Hotel is a chain of hotels headquartered in Los Angeles and New York City. Founded in 1999 in Seattle, it operates hotels primarily in the United States, with locations in Portland, Oregon; Brooklyn, New York City; Palm Springs, California; ...
s chain.
United Artists Theatre period
![United Artist Theatre, 933 S](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/United_Artist_Theatre%2C_933_S._Broadway%2C_Los_Angeles_%28Los_Angeles_County%2C_California%29_LC-HS503-453.jpg)
The theatre was designed by the architect
C. Howard Crane of the firm
Walker & Eisen
Walker & Eisen (1919−1941) was an Architectural firm, architectural partnership of architects Albert R. Walker and Percy A. Eisen in Los Angeles, California.
Partners in addition to Walker and Eisen included: Clifford A. Balch, William Glenn ...
for the
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
film studio formed by
D. W. Griffith,
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...
,
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including '' The Thie ...
and
Mary Pickford
Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
. The theater, a classic
movie palace
A movie palace (or picture palace in the United Kingdom) is any of the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opening every year between 192 ...
, was one of many constructed by United Artists and served as a major premier house. The theater occupies three floors of the 13-story building and has a 2,214-seat auditorium.
[ Like many movie theaters, the seat rows sink in toward the front of the orchestra section, so ticket holders there must look up at the stage.
]
University Cathedral period
The building was first leased by televangelist
Televangelism (wikt:tele-, tele- "distance" and "evangelism," meaning "Christian ministry, ministry," sometimes called teleministry) is the use of media, specifically radio and television, to communicate Christianity. Televangelists are minister ...
Gene Scott
William Eugene Scott (August 14, 1929 – February 21, 2005) was an American minister and teacher who served for almost 50 years as a pastor and broadcaster in Los Angeles, California. He pastored the Faith Center and Wescott Christian Center ...
in 1989, to be used as the location from which to broadcast the live Sunday services of his ministry. Scott held his first Sunday service there in 1990 and continued to hold Sunday services there until his death in 2005. A designated historic monument in itself, the building was for many years topped by the historic "Jesus Saves" neon signs (originally from the Church of the Open Door
Built in 1914, the 4000-seat Church of the Open Door was conceived by R. A. Torrey who had come to Los Angeles to start a Bible institute (now known as Biola University) similar to Moody Bible Institute. The church was to be strictly non-denominat ...
). They were located in the rear lower roof, one facing the west and one north, until September 10, 2011, when one sign was removed by crane. The building was claimed to house the largest collection of Bibles in private hands. After leasing for thirteen years, Gene Scott purchased the building in 2002. Following Scott's death, services continued to be held at the Los Angeles University Cathedral by Melissa Scott, the widow of Gene Scott, with services broadcast over TV, shortwave radio, and the Internet.
Ace Hotel conversion
The building has been completely restored and renovated to serve as a luxury boutique hotel called Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles. It features 182 rooms, a pool, a restaurant and three bars, as well as the restored theatre. It opened on January 16, 2014. In December 2014, Greenfield Partners put the building up for sale, seeking about $100 million as the sale price. In May 2015, Chesapeake Lodging Trust bought the building for $103 million.
The theater was restored as well and re-opened on February 14, 2014, with concerts by the British rock band Spiritualized
Spiritualized (stylised as Spiritualized®) are an English rock band formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierc ...
.[Mike Boehm (January 14, 2014)]
Millepied's L.A. Dance Project finds home: 1927 downtown theater
''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
''. L.A. Dance Project, a dance company founded by choreographer Benjamin Millepied
Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also ...
, will also take residence in the Theatre at Ace Hotel.[ ]Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...
performed a fundraiser at the Ace Hotel on February 5, 2016 in support of presidential candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* t ...
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
.
Broadway Theater Historic District
The building is a historic district contributing property
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as wel ...
in the Broadway Theater District
New York City's Theater District (sometimes spelled Theatre District, and officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict") is an area and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan where most Broadway theaters are located, as well as many other theaters, ...
on the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. It is also a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria.
History
The Historic-Cult ...
.
See also
* Broadway Theater District (Los Angeles)
The Broadway Theater District in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch ...
— ''NRHP Historic district''.
*
* United Artists Theatre Building (Detroit)
References
External links
Ace Hotel Los Angeles
— at ''You-Are-Here.com''
— at ''Public Art in Los Angeles''
{{Buildings in Los Angeles timeline
Movie palaces
Cinemas and movie theaters in Los Angeles
Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Historic district contributing properties in California
Event venues established in 1927
Hotel buildings completed in 1927
1927 establishments in California
Texaco
Music venues in Los Angeles
Gothic Revival architecture in California
Spanish Revival architecture in California
National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles
Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles
Skyscraper hotels in Los Angeles
Hotels in Los Angeles