The 3rd and final installment on the work of modernist architect Kenneth N. Lind (1909-1975), features the Beverly-Comstock Hotel & Apartments, now known as the Beverly Hills Plaza Hotel. The building located at 10300 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles was completed at a cost of $2.5 million in December of 1956 and featured 62 units, underground parking, swimming pool, large patio area and a coffee shop.
Kenneth Lind illustration of the Beverly-Comstock Hotel, 1956. via
The below images were taken by photographer Maynard Parker, c. 1957.
Interior shot comparing then and now
While researching the history of the building I discovered it was the location of actor Freddie Prinze's tragic suicide. Prinze known for his role as "Chico" in the 1970's hit show Chico and the Man (and father of actor Freddie Prinze Jr.), shot himself in the head on January 28, 1977 in room 216 in front of his business manager, passing away the following day. You can read more about this tragedy here and here.
1 comment:
People sure have a knack for screwing up perfectly good architecture. The columns by the pool, all that chintz, the ornate railings around the pool, faux stone columns with fountains? And what is with that port cochere?
I live in a Kenneth Lind house from 1954. It is great and I wouldn't do a thing to it. One neighbor moved some walls in theirs to add on, and though it is larger now it feels very disjointed.
Sometimes you just have to take something for what it is. No point trying to make neoclassical points with early 50s modernist structures.
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