| Allen Siple | |
| Birth Name: | Allen George Siple |
| Birth Date: | July 9, 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Otsego, Michigan, U.S. |
| Death Date: | January 10, 1973 (aged 72) |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles County, California, U.S. |
| Occupation: | Architect |
| Parents: | George H. Siple Jessie Siple |
Allen George Siple (July 9, 1900 – January 10, 1973) was an American architect, working in Southern California from the 1930s to 1960s.
Siple was born on July 9, 1900 in Otsego, Michigan.[1] [2] His father, George H. Siple, was Canadian and his mother, Jessie, was from Michigan.[1] In 1924, his father retired to Southern California and they moved into a house located at 972 Arapahoe Street, Los Angeles, California.[1] He graduated from the University of Southern California and the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.[1]
In Los Angeles, Siple worked as an architect for the Janss Investment Company. They were developing the community of Westwood in Los Angeles.[1]
In 1930, Siple designed the W.R. Balsom Jr. House in Westwood Hills.[1] [3] [4] In 1932, he designed "The Grove," also known as the "Grove Bungalow Court," located at 10669-10683 Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood, Los Angeles.[1] [5] [6] In 1940, Edla Muir (1906-1971) added two rear cottages.[6] [7] The property became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1987. In 1935, he designed the residence of actress Jane Withers (1926–2021) in Westwood Hills.[1] [8] [9] He designed the private residence of actor and producer Jack Conway (1887-1952) and his wife Virginia at All Hollows Farm in Pacific Palisades, California.[10] The house was called All Hollows Farm.[10] After Jack Conway's death in 1952, Debbie Reynolds (born 1932) and Eddie Fisher (1928-2010) purchased the property.[10]
From 1940 to 1941, Siple designed the Minnezawa Bell House located on Linda Flora Drive Bel Air for Monnezawa Bell (1911-1983), daughter of Alphonzo Bell (1875-1947), who developed Bel Air, California.[1] [11] It is a 10-room, Colonial Revival Style mansion.[11] [12] Later in the 1940s, he designed the "Knot Garden House," a Regency Revival mansion with Colonial Revival architecture interiors.[1] [13] [14] [15] [16] The property came with front gardens designed by locally renowned landscape architect Edward Huntsman-Trout (1889-1974).[13] [17] Also in the 1940s, he designed the "South Lanai House," a Monterey Colonial style house.[13] [18] [19]
During 1946 and 1947, Siple designed the model home for the Tahquitz River Estates, a neighborhood development in Palm Springs, California, by real estate developer Paul Trousdale (1915-1990).[1] [2] [20] [21] Siple also designed houses in Westdale, Los Angeles, another neighborhood developed by Trousdale.[2]
By the 1960s, Siple was the supervising architect for Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills, California, another neighborhood developed by Trousdale, on the former Doheny Ranch on the east of Greystone Mansion.[2] He also designed Paul Trousdale's private residence in Palm Springs, California.[22]
Siple died at the age of 72 on January 10, 1973 in Los Angeles County, California.[1]