Turn of the century mansions in a mix of revival styles line wide streets whose boundary nobody quite agrees on.
What West Adams looks like
Streets here run wide, with deep lots and mature trees behind the mansions. The buildings mix Queen Anne, Mission Revival and Beaux-Arts styles, most built between 1880 and 1925. Wraparound porches, turrets and stone porch pillars repeat from block to block.
Maps disagree on where the neighborhood ends. The city draws the line at Western Avenue, while other maps push it out to West Boulevard, taking in 's craftsman bungalows along the way.
, at 3500 West , is a cream stucco Beaux-Arts mansion with a balustraded roofline and tall palms along the drive. The on Cambridge Street, a two story Craftsman in cream shingle with a deep porch and exposed rafter tails, is the only Greene and Greene design still standing in the city.
Greater Page Temple, a red brick Gothic Revival church with a white cross topped tower, stands at La Salle Avenue and Adams Boulevard. McCarty Memorial Christian Church, at 4101 Adams Boulevard, is built of reinforced concrete detailed to look like carved stone. A 130 foot tower rises over its English Gothic Revival front.
The , a Moderne block designed by architect Paul Williams, stands at Adams and Western with a stone gateway marker on the corner. Preservation zone signs mark several of these blocks, from and Adams-Normandie to .
Shot in West Adams
Buster Keaton shot part of Seven Chances at a church on La Salle Avenue in 1925, now Greater Page Temple. The Beckett Mansion on South Harvard Boulevard has played houses in Neighbors, Halloween and True Romance. It still operates as a filming venue today.
Seven Chances, 1925
Played the church where the brides gather
Buster Keaton shot the church scenes for Seven Chances at this building on La Salle Avenue, then the West Adams Methodist Church. In the film, a newspaper notice sends hundreds of would-be brides to the church steps by five o'clock, all hoping to marry Keaton's character before a deadline that will let him inherit a fortune. The building is now Greater Page Temple Church of God in Christ. Street View
Six Feet Under, 2001
Played the Fisher and Sons Funeral Home, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, present day
The HBO series Six Feet Under used this house as the exterior of the Fisher and Sons Funeral Home across most of its run from 2001 to 2005, mostly in establishing shots with some filming on site. The house was built in 1904 for the mining executive Auguste Marquis and is now home to the Filipino Federation of America. Street View
Veep, 2017
The Guasti Villa
Played the palace of a fictional Georgian president, the Republic of Georgia, present day
The HBO series Veep used Guasti Villa as the palace of the fictional Georgian president Murman Shalikashvili in the season six episode Georgia. The season finale used the grounds as an Arizona wellness spa, with the Villa's own dining room playing an office. Street View
What West Adams can double for
Prospect Park South in Brooklyn, New York
Prospect Park South's freestanding houses sit well back from the street on deep lots, built between 1899 and 1910. Each was designed separately by one of several architects, in a mix of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Shingle styles. Brooklyn's narrower streets and closer building spacing show up in a wide shot, so a tight frame on one house or a short stretch of lawn holds the comparison better than a full block. Try searching Queen Anne freestanding houses now.
Old Louisville's Victorian mansions run for blocks in Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles from the 1880s and 1890s, deep lots and covered porches repeating from house to house. Its houses lean brick with red sandstone trim and stand closer together, so the comparison holds best on a single porch or facade rather than a whole street. Try searching red sandstone trim now.
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