The glorious Richfield Tower (aka the Richfield Oil Building) stood at 555 South Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles between 1929 to 1969.
Erected in 1928 at the prominent Bunker Hill intersection of Fifth and Flower Streets by the Los Angeles-based Richfield Oil Company, the Stiles O. Clements-designed tower was distinguished by Gladding, McBean’s black and gold terra cotta decoration including sublime angel figures, and an outlandish erupting neon oil gusher roof sign.
Scroll to the bottom of this page for some interesting facts about this unique building.
Photo below: Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8372688
Cover image of David Gebhard’s book, “The Richfield Building: 1928-1968”
This panoramic view is from the roof of the Richfield Tower. Click on it for a larger view:
The building on the left in the below photo is the Jonathan Club Building, at 6th and Figueroa (1952):
Richfield Building elevator doors:
In 1966, Richfield merged with Atlantic, and the following year, the newly branded ARCO made the fateful decision to demolish the most important Art Deco heroic setback skyscraper in the world because it simply wasn’t big enough. A.C. Martin was hired to design the 52-story twin glass ARCO Plaza towers, which are the West Coast’s response to the Seagram Building (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe; Philip Johnson, 1958).
(“The Cranky Preservationist in Search of Lost Art Deco Landmarks”)
Some of these photos were found on southonspring.com
~oOo~
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE RICHFIELD BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES.
The building was 152,000 ft.² and 372 feet tall, including the tower. The steel framework of the building took 2,300 tons of steel, and was erected in a record 32 days, in 1929. It contained two barbershops, a dressing room, showers and steam room, a rubbing (massage) room, women’s lounge, hospital room, florist shop, a penthouse with an outside patio area, and assembly room, two private dining rooms, a serving room and kitchen and numerous first floor rentals.
On the main floor lobby, there was a reception room and cigar counter. On the 12th floor, there was an amusement room with a stage. The 12th floor soon became a social gathering spot for clubs, universities, and other business organizations, which rented the assembly room and dining rooms for meetings, parties, and conferences. There was also a rooftop garden area. The entire building was air-conditioned, unique for a building of its size in the 1930s.
There was a three-floor underground parking lot, serviced by two automobile elevators. There was also an automobile wash rack. Outside, there was no landscaping except for the city rubber trees, donated by Richfield, which lined the street. The outside entrance sidewalk was rubber tile, from the building face to the street curb, 12 x 18 feet. There was a bronze nameplate “Richfield Building” embedded into the main entry sidewalk.
The entry doors had metal grills with figures of automobiles, airplanes, and tanker trucks, all related to the petroleum industry. Over the front entry arch were four golden figures representing aviation, postal service, industry, and navigation. These were made of terra-cotta, covered in finely pulverized 14-karat gold particles, and were designed by the famed sculptor, Haig Patigian.
The first floor lobby floor was marble with an embedded bronze nameplate. The flooring on each floor was blue and gray rubber tile in a slanted diamond-shaped pattern. The air return plates in the floors had solid bronze ornate gates. The hallways walls were lined in black marble at the base and the main elevator lobby was lined with columns of black and green marble. The elevator control panels were bronze, set in black and green marble. The elevator doors had cast-bronze ornamentation and were chrome and zinc, framed in honeywood. They measured 81 x 2 inches x by ¼ inch and weighed 45 pounds each. Also Belgium black, light, and dark French Napoleon forest green and yellow Verona marble were used throughout the building. All of the inside light fixtures were of the bronze art deco design and all of the hardware for the doors and windows were also bronze.
The utility room included a boiler room, general machinery room, water softener room, salt storage room, switchboard room, transformer vault, tool and engineers room, fan [air conditioner] room, elevator operators and machine room, men’s and women’s janitorial rooms, mail room, and various storage rooms.
There were forty 11½-ton golden terra-cotta parapet figures lining the outside of the 12th floor. They were cast and fired by the Gladding, McBean A. Clay Pottery and Pipe Manufacturing Company, and were also desired by Haig Patigian.
The tower on top of the building was steel, approximately 125 feet tall, weighing 70,000 pounds, and designed to look like an oil rig gusher. A beacon light on top had four 8-million candle power revolving lights, and one 8-billion candle powered directional light. The beacon was manufactured by the Sperry Gyroscope Company. The Richfield letters were 8 feet tall with red neon lighting. The tower was considered for mooring zeppelins and other air ships, but was never connected.
When the building was completed in 1930, the lighted Richfield tower was said to be the largest and tallest electrical sign in the world. It was visible for up to 100 miles. The beacon light was said to be the strongest beacon in the country, which was a welcome aid to aviators of the day as they had no radios.
On March 1, 1954, flames and smoke outlined the top floors and the tower. One man was injured by the blaze that started when a wire short-circuited near a can of lacquer being used by the painters refinishing the building’s elevators. The elevator damage was estimated at $50,000.
On November 15, 1968, the Cleveland Wrecking Company began demolishing the building starting with the interior. Parts of the building’s interiors were sold off. The entire block was leveled to make room for the construction of the twin 52-story ARCO towers.
The Los Angeles equivalent of losing the original Pennsylvania Station in New York — an architectural tragedy.
ABSOLUTELY!!!
There’s a thin volume, by David Gebhard, on the Richfield Building that includes a few color photos of the exterior and one or two of the interior. It’s impossible for me to appreciate how beautiful the building was without seeing these spectacular color shots. I wonder if any of the LA archives has more color photos.
I agree, David. SUCH a great loss to the LA skyline. I’m surprised there’s aren’t more color photographs around.
PS Gebhard says 1928-1968.
Thanks so much for posting these photos. I grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s in Downey, just 15 minutes south on the Santa Ana Freeway in those days. My mom used to drive us to downtown L.A. for one reason or another and I remember having spotted the latticework tower on top of the Richfield building. My mom accommodated my request and we drove by the building and I was much impressed with its black and gold façade — I was probably 10 or 12. Not long afterward, my father took us to a night game at Dodger Stadium, and when we were driving out of the parking lot afterward, we had a spectacular view of downtown L.A. and there was that tower with “RICHFIELD” lighted up in yellow and the vertical corners of the tower in vivid blue — it was spectacular. I always wanted to see the inside of that building. Then, when I was 16 or 17, I opened the Los Angeles Times one morning to discover they were demolishing the Richfield Building with a view toward building a pair of nondescript skyscrapers on the property. I was so annoyed! Somehow, we managed to drive by it again when it was half gone. In my later years I became someone who loves art deco architecture, furniture and other objects, so I really appreciate seeing all these photographs. I only learned yesterday that the Richfield had a central courtyard up through the roof with that huge arched opening on one side that led to the courtyard. It’s so sad no one appreciated this architectural treasure — if only someone had had the foresight to have it declared a historical/cultural monument. (It took them until the mid-1980s to do that for the Eastern Columbia building.) At least I have some idea now what the Richfield Building looked like on the inside and on the sides of it I couldn’t see when we drove by way back when. Again, thank you.
Thanks for your note, Todd. I’m quite jealous that you got to see the Richfield Tower in all its glory. Color photos are rare so I wasn’t aware that the sign was in yellow and the corners were in blue. I can’t even imagine how they thought it was okay to trash one of LA’s architectural treasures. I hope there’s a special place in Hell for those responsible!
I agree with both of you completely. It is so sad that the National Registrar. I would love to know if any of the interior items that were sold off still exist somewhere today. If only we could have that kind of art in our homes. Thank you for sharing such interesting posts. I enjoy them tremendously because of my love for old architecture and Art Deco memorabilia.
I could just cry. How could anyone decide to tear down a beautiful building like that? Progress, I HATE IT!!!!!!
I’m still so torn up over it, I still refuse to buy ARCO gas. At the least two of the elevator doors are still onsite outside one of those (boring towers).
Oh my god, Darren, they’re SO boring! I didn’t know that Richfield became ARCO – from now on I’ll shoot daggers at every ARCO gas station I drive past!
Yes. In a nutshell, the Atlantic Petroleum Storage Company (eastern U.S.) merged with Richfield Oil Company (western U.S.) in 1966 to form the Atlantic Richfield Company. ARCO is an acronym for _A_tlantic _R_ichfield _CO_mpany. By 1970 or so, they decided to rebadge all their gas stations using that acronym, so all the eastern Atlantic gas stations and all the western Richfield gas stations were suddenly given new signs with the ARCO brand on them. I remember when that happened — I was in my first year of college and had my first car. It’s more than a shame that ARCO decided to tear down the Richfield Tower in 1969 — it stood for all of 40 years — and replace it with two very boring modernist skyscrapers, the twin ARCO towers, which are each owned by separate companies, no longer by ARCO. The two towers are still referred to as “ARCO Plaza”, however.
I knew because my dad’s personal (ha!) gas station was a Richfield one on Motor Avenue in Palms. When he was a letter carrier he had that route for a while, and since we lived in Culver City, we patronized a lot of his friends on this street. The gas station was old even in the 50s and 60s. It was across the street for the old house where the Gourd Lady lived!
Thanks for posting these amazing pics of the Richfield building and tower. It is indeed a tragedy that this architectural wonder was trashed along with the Bunker Hill neighborhood nearby. The Hill couldn’t be saved from the CRA, but this amazing building come have (and should have) been preserved. What a shockingly bad decision.
Indeed! I think we can all agree now that the decision to knock down the Richfield building was one of the worst commercial decisions ever made in LA. I know the company had outgrown the building and needed more space, so there were very practical decisions to be made. But to tear down the Richfield and put up those two skyscrapers that couldn’t have been more bland if they tried was–and is–outrageous.
Just came across your site. it is sad the building gone. But the round entry plaque is living a good life on the wall in my garage.
Hey there, thanks for stopping by. You have the entry plaque into the Richfield Tower building? Wow, it’s good to know that somebody saved something!
It’s a shame it was demolished but I love its replacement. It’s beautiful, tall, powerful and sleek with probably 4 times the office space. Plus the beautiful outdoor plaza is a must to enjoy the southern California wonderful weather. My problem was what was around the Richfield building. The parking lot, the hideous 2 and 3 story buildings around it. No place to sit outside. Sad to see it go but through the years the area looked horrible. I honestly do love what’s there now.
I think I found the mockups for the elevator doors..
You have?! Where?! How?! Are there photos?! More info please!
Such a shame that this art deco marvel met an early demise.
I know it won’t happen but its cool to fantasize over this building being rebuilt to its original specifications on one of the many flat parking lots in downtown LA.
It is such a shame and while a life-size replica of the building won’t happen, the LA Conservancy does have a marvelous model of it in the foyer of their offices.
Thanks for the memories. I used to look forward to going downtown and seeing this deco masterpiece. It stimulated my still existing passion for architecture.
In about 1950, visiting my dentist’s chair offered a view of the Richfield Building.
I was 5 but had seen it a lot since my Dad had an office downtown.
Wow! At least you had a nice view while your dentist worked on you teeth.
If I only had a time machine. I’ve always been intrigued by the Richfield Building’s underground parking. I’ve never seen any photos of it nor have I ever been able to discern where the entrance was. It would be nice to know. Thank you.
Come to think of, I’ve never seen any photos of it either, Antonia. Maybe someone will read this and tell us their recollections.
In the early 60s my father was the last person to run the cigar stand in the lobby. I don’t know whether he was an employee or whether my parents had rented, leased, or purchased the stand. If it was the latter, they probably got it at a good price because the previous owner knew the building was doomed. The building was gorgeous, inside and out.
At the same time, a few blocks away in a sidewalk corner of a parking lot near Sixth and Hill, my mother and grandmother ran a tiny breakfast and lunch cafe named Lil’s Grill, which my parents did own.
Lil’s Grill was torn down around the same time as the Richfield Building, so my parents bought a larger cafe at 808 West Sixth, named it Don and Lil’s, and ran it together until it too was demolished.
Hi Arleigh, thanks for stopping by and sharing your family history with us!
I think there’s a widescreen color shot of a portion of the Richfield Bldg. seen out of the set of Rod Taylor’s office in Antonioni’s ZABRISKIE POINT, that was filmed just before or as it was being demolished. I believe the set was built on top of or in the Pegasus apts. The Richfield Bldg. icon the left of the frame, Rod Taylor center and a giant American flag billowing in the wind. An astonishing shot. An astonishing building. Such a civic tragedy that it’s been demolished so carelessly. The LA Conservancy was just getting its legs then.
Hey Archie, I know the shot you mean and it’s pretty amazing.