Claud Beelman Explained

Claud Beelman
Nationality:	American
Birth Date:	1884
Birth Place:	Ohio
Death Date:	January 30, 1963
Death Place:	Los Angeles, California
Significant Buildings:	Superior Oil Company Building
Awards:	Honorary Doctor of Architecture from Woodbury University, May 12, 2023
Spouse:	Lourene Taft Beelman
Children:	1 daughter

Claud W. Beelman (1884 – January 30, 1963), sometimes known as Claude Beelman, was an American architect who designed many examples of Beaux-Arts, Art Deco, and Streamline Moderne style buildings. Many of his buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Biography

Beelman was married to Lourene Taft Beelman (b. 1884, Ohio - d. 1948, Ca.). In 1910, he was a draftsman in the state of Indiana. (Cite: U.S. Census Records, State of Indiana, 1910.) It was there they had a daughter, Helen Beelman (b. 1912). By the 1920s, the family had relocated to Los Angeles, and by 1930, they lived in Beverly Hills.

From the 1920s on, Beelman, as partner or owner of one or another of several firms (Curlett + Beelman; Allison & Allison; Ruck & Beelman; Claud Beelman & Associates) designed a number of prominent civic and private structures. By 1956, Claude Beelman & Associates officed at 7421 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles 90036.

When he was in his seventies, Beelman designed the 12-story Superior Oil building for oil tycoon W.M. Keck. Completed in 1955, the Superior Oil building later became The Bank of California Building, and was used for the bank's offices until the 1980s. By the late 1990s, the building had been vacant for nearly ten years, but has been renovated beginning in 2000 by hotel developer Andre Balazs, and now is the location of his hotel The Standard.

It is the zig-zag moderne Eastern Columbia Building, however, with its facade of turquoise green terra cotta tile, ornate clock tower, art deco lighting, fixtures, signage and architectural detail that is Beelman's most recognizable work. In 2006, the Eastern Columbia Building was converted from office space to loft live/work spaces by the Kor Group and is now one of the most desirable loft buildings in Downtown Los Angeles.

On May 12, 2023, Beelman was posthumously awarded an Honorary Doctor of Architecture from Woodbury University in Burbank, California.

Works

Registered in The National Register of Historic Places

Some of the California landmark buildings designed by Beelman include (All located in Los Angeles, California unless otherwise noted):

• Board of Trade Building, Downtown Los Angeles
• Building at 816 South Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles
• Culver Hotel, Culver City, California
• Cooper Arms Apartments, Long Beach
• Eastern Columbia Building (Contributing structure in Broadway Theater and Commercial Historic District)
• Garfield Building
• Heinsbergen Decorating Company Building
• Norwalk Memorial Hospital, 269 W. Main St. Norwalk, OH (Schriber & Beelman)
  • • Pacific Electric Building, 610 S. Main St. Los Angeles Roosevelt Building, 727 W. Seventh St. Los Angeles Security Building, Phoenix, Arizona
• Spring Street Realty Building (Contributing structure in Spring Street Historic District)
• Superior Oil Company Building (now The Standard Downtown LA Hotel)^{[1] [2]}
• U.S. Post Office--Hollywood Station
• Woodbury University, Wilshire Boulevard Building, Los Angeles

Other notable works

• Barker Brothers Building
• Central Plaza Building
• Elks Lodge No. 99 / Park Plaza Hotel
• Farmers and Merchants Bank Office Tower - Downtown Long Beach
• Harbor Building at Crenshaw
• Irving Thalberg Building, MGM (Sony) Studios
• L.A. Jewelry Center
• Mutual-Don Lee Broadcasting System studios (oldest surviving Hollywood studio built for television, now the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
• May Company Garage - 1926 - one of the Nation's first parking structures (Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1001)
• Mercury Building
• Pacific South West Trust Building
• Rose Hill Housing Structure
• Security Pacific Bank
• The Talmadge

External links

• Web site: The Cooper Arms - A Brief History .
• Book: Deco Landmarks: Art Deco Gems of Los Angeles . Arnold Schwartzman, Bevis Hillier . Chronicle Books . 2005-08-11 . 0-8118-4601-6.
• Web site: Los Angeles Downtown News - Los Angeles Downtown Visitor's Guilde - Architecture .
• Web site: LA Time Machine - Historic Buildings in LA.
• Web site: Sony Pictures Museum - Thalberg History. 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20061113023941/http://www.sonypicturesmuseum.com/studio_history/thalberghistory.html. 2006-11-13. dead.
• Web site: Contemporary Fresco Gazette: Park Plaza Hotel - New Time, New Life. 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20061015082148/http://www.truefresco.org/murals_trompe_faux/000043.html. 2006-10-15. dead.
• Web site: The Larchmont Chronicle: Classic Apartment Buildings - The Talmadge. 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20061022102438/http://www.larchmontchronicle.com/ArchiveDetail.asp?ArchiveID=252. 2006-10-22. dead.
• Web site: The Mercury LA. 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20070127044012/http://www.themercuryla.com/the-extras/koreatown-high-rise-condo.php. 2007-01-27. dead.
• Web site: The City of Long Beach - Historic Landmarks. 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20061010130759/http://cms.longbeach.gov/plan/content/historiclandmarks.htm#S. 2006-10-10. dead.
• Web site: The Garfield Building.
• Web site: Downtown LA - Office Space: The Jewelry Center, and others.
• Web site: Emporis: Claude Beelman, Architect. https://web.archive.org/web/20040824173103/http://www.emporis.com/en/cd/cm/?id=102533. dead. August 24, 2004.
• Web site: The Hollywood, CA Post Office.
• Web site: History California: US Post Office -- Hollywood Station.
• Web site: Public Art in LA - Downtown / Broadway: 9th & Broadway.
• Web site: Long Beach: Historical Beaches and Places. 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20061031211121/http://www.joelbuchman.com/Nav.aspx/Page=%2fPageManager%2fDefault.aspx%3fPageID%3d1631329. 2006-10-31. dead.
• Web site: Blogdowntown.com: "What is LA's Oldest Parking Structure?" - (Re: May Company Garage, 1926). 2006-10-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20060811193114/http://blogdowntown.com/blog/2233. 2006-08-11. dead.
• Web site: Los Angeles Conservancy - 9th & Broadway Building.
• Web site: Curbed LA: Roosevelt Building Gets Lofted.
• Web site: Ancestry.com: 1930 Federal Census Bureau Record, City of Beverly Hills: District 19-822, Supervisor District 16, Sheet 15B, Claud Beelman, Architect.
• Web site: L.A. Public Library Photo Database: Claud Beelman's Rose Hill, Hollywood Post Office, and other Federal and municipal public works (Search Photo Data base: Claude or Claud Beelman if link becomes inoperative).
• Web site: Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library: Greene & Greene Collection - Pacific Southwest Trust & Savings Building, Pasadena, CA, Job No. 476, from 1924, 1926, (Original Hand Drawings online of Beelman's).
• Web site: The Eastern Columbia Loft Site .
• Web site: The Wilshire Center: "Wilshire Corridor History" (Cites many of Beelman's early works). dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080511213238/http://www.wilshirecenter.com/wilshire_corridor_history.htm. 2008-05-11.
• "Services for Architect Claud Beelman Set", Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1963 Part II, page 6.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Standard Hotel Site . 2006-10-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061022054302/http://www.standardhotel.com/ . 2006-10-22 . dead .
2. Web site: The Los Angeles Times: "Rooms with a 'Mod' View" (PDF file). 2006-10-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20061127014121/http://www.standardhotel.com/images/press/dtla_article_01.pdf. 2006-11-27. dead.