Roman architectural influence on Los Angeles buildings

Karim Snoussi

Christoph Korner

Roman Visions

Take a drive around the always-crowded streets of Los Angeles and you'll notice scores of buildings whose architects drew their inspiration at least in part from the ancient world -- from Babylon and Mesopotamia as well (more commonly) Greece and Rome. Such heavy stylistic borrowing from the cities of Greece and Rome should not be surprising given how many American cities have buildings with Classical and Neoclassical elements. Americans, whose country was born during the Enlightenment's celebration of the Classical world, are inclined to borrow from Greece and Rome in part because of those societies' historical values. This paper examines a number of buildings in Los Angeles that have been influenced by Roman architectural styles. These buildings have thus in many ways been influenced by Greek architectural styles since the Romans themselves incorporated many elements of Hellenistic style. The architects of these buildings, and the people who commissioned them, were intent on borrowing both a pleasing aesthetic and specific cultural connotations.

Rome was one of the dominant civilizations of the world for centuries, and as the centuries passed there were many changes in the art and architecture of the nation. When Roman (and Greek) style was resurrected during the Neoclassical period of the 18th century, Enlightenment scholars were not as aware as are scholars today of the stylistic differences between Roman eras nor of the exact relationship between Greek and Roman societies (Kleiner 38). Thus when Classical elements were included in 18th century buildings or art, there was often a mixing of different centuries and even different cultures. This mixing of Greek and Roman elements continued into 20th century renewals of Classical style.

Ancient Rome has its roots in a modest farming community that grew on the Italian Peninsula probably in the 10th century. Beginning as a monarchy, Rome later became a republic before a shift to an empire. Through these different political phases, Rome spread its political, cultural, economic, and linguistic dominance across much of southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The size of the empire and the variable quality of its rulers meant that there were numerous periods of instability in the nation (Scarre 26-8). This lead to the break-up of the western portion of the empire in the fifth century, with Italy, Spain, Britain, and Africa forming independent kingdoms, each of which would develop slightly different Classical styles.

Roman architecture was one of the greatest accomplishments of this civilization in terms of both aesthetics and technology. Roman architects and engineers created grand cities across the breadth of the empire, creating monumental works in stone and concrete -- covering this latter humbled material with plaster, stone veneers, gold, mosaics. Roman buildings whether in Rome or across its lands were graceful, symmetrical, balanced, embellished but cleanly designed (Christ 74). They were also sturdy: The delicacy of the sculptural elements belied the fact that these structures were built to withstand their own empire.

Rome, via France, to California

There are numerous buildings in Los Angeles that have some classical elements. A walk through downtown would turn up scores of buildings with a pediment or a few columns. These nods to classical architecture are often an important part of the buildings' sense of style and beauty. But probably the best single cluster of neoclassical buildings is on Spring Street, in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. These buildings, such as the 1914 Crocker Bank building (no longer a bank but still architecturally intact), are generally designated as Beaux-Arts style buildings. This is simply another designation for neoclassical architecture, referring to the particular variant of neoclassical style that was developed in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. This form of Neoclassicism is slightly more intricate than other variations of Neoclassical architecture.

The Crocker Bank typifies neoclassical/Beaux-Arts style in its strict symmetry as well as its monumental nature. It is a massive building, but its broad facade is lightened by both architrave and pediment. The decorative elements near the roof-line show the shell-like curves reminiscent of Baroque style, which Beaux-Arts style also incorporates (Carlhian, 1979).

One of the major distinctions between the kind of classical re-creation like the Getty Villa and the Neoclassical/Beaux-Arts structures like those on Spring Street is that the latter are much taller than Roman homes or public buildings would have been. Certainly the Romans were quite capable of building monumental structure like the Coliseum, but most Roman buildings would have been only a few stories. The Crocker Bank building, on the other hand, is a ten-story building with Italian marble and tile work that suggest Roman detail and the overall proportion of each story is similar to that of Roman public buildings.

Another of the dozen or so neoclassical buildings on Spring Street is the 1902 Continental Building. The twelve-story building is known as the city's first skyscraper and its exterior calls to mind Greek temples, Roman baths, and Italianate Renaissance neoclassical palazzi. In this one building one can seen the Greek roots of Roman architecture, the core design details of Roman Imperial architecture, Italy's recreation of its classical past, and early 20th-century reclamation of the grace of each of these eras and styles (Lemaistre 29). The building incorporates heaven-reaching columns with a solid, weighty facade, a sense of power and authority, and a use of concrete along with stone and subtle exterior carving to balance the Classical and the Modern.

Key architectural elements of the Continental Building are the arches that define the top of the building and recall the triumphal arches of Rome -- perhaps meaning to suggest that this new form of building (the skyscraper) was a new form of celebratory architecture. The building is also adorned with wreaths, associated in Roman culture and art with triumphs, and botanical designs, which in the classical world suggested wealth (Brain 848). The architects are not simply referencing a general Neoclassical style but evoking specific elements of Roman architectural style that suggested wealth and success.

The Los Angeles Stock Exchange on Spring St. (which no longer houses the stock exchange) includes the neoclassical elements of symmetry and alternating bands of vertical and horizontal elements. It also features three bas-relief panels carved into the granite over the central entrance that reflect Roman and Greek styles of decoration on public buildings. These bas-reliefs, like the carvings on the Continental Building are meant to summon up a certain kind of wealth and triumph, in this case the capitalist economy. Buildings in the Classical world would not have had to be so direct in broadcasting their function and stature. But the architects of this neoclassical building understood that a 20th-century clientele needed more explicit cues (Hickey). Classical buildings shared a common vocabulary that had been lost by the 20th century, and so designers had to give more clues as to the nature of their work. Thus the Neoclassical architects in Los Angeles used explicit cues to the city's citizens, making their buildings evoke the might of Classical empires with friezes showing workers creating the wealth of the last of the American frontiers.

The streets of Los Angeles allow a careful observer the chance to dabble in time travel -- or at least something close to it. Scores of buildings reproduce, or at least reference, both Classical and Neoclassical architectural details. Often these details are easily identifiable even to an observer with no formal training in architecture, for it is impossible to see the colonnaded fronts of buildings and not think of Rome and Greece. In other cases the architectural references to past empires are more subtle, taking the form of the suggestion of a frieze or simply in the overall proportion of a building that incorporates Roman or Greek dimensions. One of the most fascinating aspects of studying Classical influence on buildings in Los Angeles is that in most cases the influences have arrived via the 18th century, reflecting not the original source but Neoclassical interpretations of Classical buildings. The numerous classically inclined buildings in downtown Los Angeles, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, could thus be called neo-Neoclassicism. The fact that the original Roman and Greek architectural forms still shine through so clearly demonstrate their continuing aesthetic and cultural force.