Los Angeles has a lot of wondrous sights, but I’ve never thought of it as a city with particularly striking churches…until I came across this photo. This is St Vincent de Paul’s Church, 621 W Adams Blvd, at Figueroa St, south of downtown L.A. It was built in 1925 and this photo is from 1957. Take away the palm trees and it could be any number of churches I’ve seen in Europe.
And yes, it’s still around today and still striking. This image is from March 2021.
I love this church. When I was a kid, we’d come to USC football games at the Coliseum We called it the wedding cake church, because the detailing looks like the frosting on an elaborate wedding cake (and there was always a wedding going on there).
The church was paid for by Edward Doheny, who built it for his Catholic wife.
Info on the architectural style here;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churrigueresque#California_Churrigueresque
Ah! I might have known someone with beaucoup bucks might have been behind it!
Doheny was Episcopal. Diagonal across Figueroa and behind the service station is St John’s. This was Doheny’s church. Both are within walking distance from their home. Their home is now part of Mount St Mary’s College city campus and is home to nuns. In the house is a round room with marble columns and a magnificent Tiffany favrile glass domed ceiling. The room is called the Pompeii Room. The accoustists in are almost perfect.
Thanks for all that great info, AC!
Very near this church is the original Triple A of Southern California headquarters, which – not surprisingly for our region – looks very much like a cathedral.