Village Green, Los Angeles

Village Green, originally named Baldwin Hills Village, is a neighborhood at the foot of Baldwin Hills, within the city of Los Angeles, California. Village Green consists of a large condominium complex that is both a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and a National Historic Landmark. Designed in the late 1930s and completed by 1942, it is one of the oldest planned communities of its type in the nation.[3] Village Green was named by The American Institute of Architects as one of the 100 most important architectural achievements in U.S. history.[4]

Baldwin Hills Village
Village Green sign located at the intersection of Obama Blvd and Hauser Blvd
Village Green, Los Angeles is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Village Green, Los Angeles
Village Green, Los Angeles is located in California
Village Green, Los Angeles
Village Green, Los Angeles is located in the United States
Village Green, Los Angeles
LocationLos Angeles, California
Coordinates34°01′11″N 118°21′39″W
Area64 acres (26 ha)
Built1942
ArchitectClarence Stein; Reginald D. Johnson
Architectural styleModern Movement
NRHP reference No.93000269
LAHCM No.174
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 1, 1993[1]
Designated NHLDJanuary 3, 2001[2]
Designated LAHCMMay 4, 1977

Geography

Village Green is located between Obama Boulevard and Coliseum Street, and between Hauser Blvd. and slightly west of La Brea Avenue, in the northwestern South Los Angeles region. The Baldwin Village neighborhood is just east of Village Green and La Brea Avenue. The site design consists of outer vehicular circulation roads, with spur roadways between some of the buildings of the complex. At its center is an elongated oval greensward, lined and crossed by paved walkways. Smaller garden courts extend outward from the central area between the residence buildings. The spur roads provide access to garage buildings, which also historically housed access to common facilities such as laundry rooms. The residences are one or two story frame structures finished in plaster, with the living units organized so that the living room and master bedroom face one of the garden spaces.[3]

History

Origin

The Baldwin Hills Village complex was built in 1942 as one of the most ambitiously planned communities in Los Angeles at the time, with 627 apartments grouped in buildings on a very large landscaped site. The Modernist Garden city style complex, which encompassed 627 units, was designed by architect Reginald D. Johnson, consulting architect Clarence S. Stein, with the firm of Wilson, Merill & Alexander, and landscape architect Fred Barlow, Jr. It also featured a mural by Italian-American artist Rico Lebrun.[5] The units seldom have more than two bedrooms, and tend to attract seniors and younger professionals as residents. As one of the first such establishments, the Village Green was also designed with the requirements of car-owners in mind.[6]

Landmark status

As Baldwin Hills Village, Village Green was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in 1977, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993, and a National Historic Landmark historic district in 2001.[2][3]

  • Village Green Office Building, 2007
    Village Green Office Building, 2007
  • Village Green identification sign, 2011
    Village Green identification sign, 2011
  • Baldwin Hills Village National Historic Landmark plaque
    Baldwin Hills Village National Historic Landmark plaque

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. "Baldwin Hills Village". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved October 17, 2007.
  3. National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination (pdf), National Park Service, May 19, 2000 and Accompanying photos, exterior and interior, from 19 and 19. (10.0 MB)
  4. Village Green 75th Anniversary Talk, by Gailyn Saroyan, retrieved November 15, 2021
  5. Rico Lebrun and His Mural for Baldwin Hills Village, a Talk by Gailyn Saroyan, retrieved November 15, 2021
  6. Sam Hall Kaplan: LA Lost & Found, New York 1987, p. 109.
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