Brookside is a neighborhood in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It is an enclave of eight tree-lined streets and 400 homes. The neighborhood consists primarily of one-story and two-story, predominantly single-family residences in various Period Revival styles including

Spanish Colonial Revival The Spanish Colonial Revival architecture (), often known simply as Spanish Revival, is a term used to encompass a number of revivalist architectural styles based in both Spanish colonial architecture and Spanish architecture in general. Thes ...

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references to Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonial ...

, and French Revival; later buildings were constructed in the

Minimal Traditional Minimal Traditional is a style of architecture that emerged in mid 20th century America as a vernacular form that incorporates influences from earlier styles such as American Colonial, Colonial Revival, Spanish Revival, Tudor Revival, and American C ...

and

Ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...

styles.

History

Brookside, a neighborhood of predominantly large, single family homes, was developed by the Rimpau Estate Co. in 1920 on land that had previously been part of

Rancho las Cienegas Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California ** List of California Ranchos * Ranchos, Buenos ...

. The area, originally called Windsor Crest, was built to attract wealthy families from the West Adams area. On October 28, 2015, the

Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the Legislature, lawmaking body for the Government of Los Angeles, city government of Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States. It has 15 members who each represent the 15 city council ...

unanimously passed a motion to establish an Interim Control Ordinance (ICO) for the Brookside and Sycamore Square neighborhoods to help prevent residential teardowns and the construction of oversized replacement homes as the city re-works its Baseline Mansionization Ordinance.

Geography

Located in

Mid-Wilshire Mid-Wilshire is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is known for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Miracle Mile shopping district. Geography City of Los Angeles bo ...

, Brookside is located between Olympic Boulevard and

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard ( wɪɫ.ʃɚ is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue (Lo ...

, and includes the homes on both sides of, and between, Highland and Muirfield Avenues. A minor tributary of

Ballona Creek Ballona Creek (pronunciation: "Bah-yo-nuh" or "Buy-yo-nah" ) is an channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows". The urban watercourse be ...

, known as El Rio del Jardin de las Flores, runs through Brookside.Riviera, Carla, “In the center of the Mid-Wilshire district lies an enclave of 1920s elegance,” LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1998-09-28, p. 3. “The stream originates in the Hollywood Hills and wanders from one side of Longwood Avenue to the other.” The Park Mile commercial corridor separates Brookside from

Hancock Park Hancock Park is a city park in the Miracle Mile section of the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The park's destinations include the La Brea Tar Pits; the adjacent George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, which displa ...

to the north.

Neighborhood Features

Brookside prominently features several publicly owned and maintained historic resources such as th
LA High Memorial Park
and Memorial Branch, as well as privately owned historic sites such as the Farmers Insurance Building. The large rectangular park known as the Los Angeles High School Memorial Park, located at 4625 W. Olympic Blvd., was created in 1922 to honor students at Los Angeles High School who had served in World War I. Situated within the park is the Memorial Branch library of the

Los Angeles Public Library The Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) is a public library system in Los Angeles, California, operating separate from the Los Angeles County Public Library system. The system holds more than six million volumes, and with around 19 million resid ...

. It was built in 1930 based on a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

design by architect

John C. Austin John Corneby Wilson Austin (February 13, 1870 – September 3, 1963) was an architect and civic leader who participated in the design of several landmark buildings in Southern California, including the Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles City Hall, ...

, also noted as the lead architect of the

Griffith Observatory Griffith Observatory is an observatory in Los Angeles, California, on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the sou ...

and the

Hollywood Masonic Temple Hollywood Masonic Temple, now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre and formerly known as Masonic Convention Hall, is a building on Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, U.S. ...

. The library includes a large heraldic work of stained glass created by the artists at

Judson Studios Judson Studios is a fine arts studio specializing in stained glass located in the Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, Highland Park section (also known as Garvanza, Los Angeles, California, Garvanza) of northeast Los Angeles, California, Los ...

. In 1971, the Memorial Branch was designated as

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-Cul ...

No. 81. In 1987, the Memorial Branch and several other branch libraries in Los Angeles were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Farmers Insurance Building located at 4680 Wilshire Blvd. is a significant privately owned historic site, used once as the corporate headquarters of Farmers Insurance Group, established here in 1937 and enlarged in 1949.

References

{{Wilshire Neighborhoods in Los Angeles Central Los Angeles Wilshire, Los Angeles