California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Gilmore Adobe on Rancho La Brea, [s.d.]

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Gilmore Adobe on Rancho La Brea, [s.d.]

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Photograph of the Gilmore Adobe on Rancho La Brea, [s.d.]. There is a large fountain surrounded by low bushes at the center of the image. The house is behind this. It is u-shaped, with both the right and the left sides protruding further towards the camera than the middle. On the right side there are three identical rectangular windows, while on the left is a single large rectangular window flanked by heavy shutters. The front door is visible in the middle of the house, with thick wooden posts on both sides. There is a large palm tree in the background, and there is a pepper tree in the foreground on the right. Rancho La Brea adobe built by James (John?) Thompson in 1852 and expanded and renovated by Arthur Gilmore around 1900. Marked on June 28, 1930 by the Native Daughters of the Golden West Parlor #247.; "From humble origins it became the seat of a gas and oil empire whose idiosyncratic promotional images dotted the Western landscape. But while the kingdom has been downsized, the Gilmore Adobe endures in modest anonymity, an idyllic vestige of another time. Nestled between Farmers Market and CBS studios, shielded from public view by a fortress of foliage, the Gilmore Adobe dates back to 1852. Originally called the Rancho La Brea Adobe, it eventually became the home of rancher-turned-oilman Arthur F. Gilmore, whose brilliantly eccentric son Earl turned the Gilmore Oil Company into a legendary part of America's burgeoning car culture. Today [2002], the adobe--which now serves as headquarters for the A.F. Gilmore Company, owner and operator of Farmers Market (as well as the adjacent Gilmore Bank)--stands as a bucolic island of tranquility in the heart of the city. The building is an elegant hybrid of California Mission and Spanish Colonial, reflecting a series of renovations over the past century. While modern amenities have been added, original features such as the wood-and-clay-brick ceiling have been preserved. Earl Gilmore's bedroom--remarkably small for a titan of modern capitalism--remains frozen in time, complete with his extensive pipe collection and elaborately designed horse saddle. Outside, terracotta tiles adorn a courtyard where Rudolph Valentino once preened for the camera in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Chickens roam the northern side of the property, while on the eastern edge a pair of towering Mexican fan palms keep watch over the adobe (which is closed to the general public). From inside the grounds, one can almost envision 19th century Los Angeles--a city without cars or freeways or smog, awaiting men like Earl Gilmore and the onslaught of the future." -- Danny Feingold.

Asset Metadata

Title Gilmore Adobe on Rancho La Brea, [s.d.]

Publisher University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Subject Adobe houses (lcsh), Architecture, Domestic (lcsh), Dwellings (lcsh), Gilmore, Arthur (subject), Los Angeles -- Architecture -- Domestic -- Adobes (file heading), Native Daughters of the Golden West (subject), residential sites (adlf), Thompson, James [John?] (subject)

Tags OAI-PMH Harvest

Place California (states), Los Angeles (city or populated place), Los Angeles (counties), USA (countries)

Type images

Format 1 photograph : photonegative, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm. (aacr2), negatives (photographic) (aat), photographs (aat)

Source California Historical Society (contributing entity), California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960 (collection), Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960 (subcollection)

Repository Email specol@lib.usc.edu

Repository Name USC Libraries Special Collections

Repository Location Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189

Rights Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Copyright Public Domain. Please credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library.

Access Conditions Send requests to address or e-mail given

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/chs-m1770

Identifier 10075 (accession number), CHS-10075 (call number), CHS-10075 (filename), chs-m265 (legacy collection record id), chs-c65-2627 (legacy record id), chs-m1770 (legacy record id), USC-1-1-1-1822 (legacy record id), 1-33- (microfiche number), USC (project)

IIIF ID [Document.IIIFV3ID]

DM Record ID 2627

Unique identifier UC116532

Legacy Identifier CHS-10075.tiff

Type Image

Internet Media Type image/tiff

Resolution 17.0 in × 13.7 in at 300dpi
43.1 cm × 34.9 cm at 300dpi

Inherited Values

Title Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Description The nearly 15,000 unique photographs of this collection contain the work of C.C. Pierce which cover the Los Angeles region city, street and architectural views, California Missions, Southwestern Native Americans, and turn-of-century Nevada, Arizona, and California. Pierce, active from 1886 to 1940, was one of the leading photographers of his day and amassed a collection of 15,000 images, including his own and those bought and copied from his contemporaries, George Wharton James and Charles Puck. The James collection contains over 2,000 images of portraits, customs, ceremonies, arts, and games of various groups of Southwestern Native Americans.

Date Created 1860/1960

Linked assets

Title Insurance and Trust and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection 1860-1960

Conceptually similar

Exterior view of the Gilmore adobe at Rancho La Brea, [s.d.]

Exterior view of the Gilmore Adobe on Rancho La Brea, [s.d.]

Adobe courtyard at the Rancho La Brea, later known as Gilmore Ranch, [s.d.]

Hugo Reid Adobe at Rancho Santa Anita, ca.1900

Old fountain at Rancho La Merced in Montebello, [s.d.]

Exterior view of the Garcia adobe, located in the San Fernando Valley between San Fernando and the Mission, [s.d.]

Exterior view of an unidentified adobe on Rancho Agua Hedionda in San Diego, ca. 1930

Three bells in front of the de la Guerra adobe on Rancho Los Alamos in Santa Barbara County, 1937

Exterior view of the front of the adobe ranch house of Rancho Las Alamos of Santa Elena, Santa Barbara County, 1937

San Gabriel Mission Adobe at 328 West Mission Boulevard, [s.d.]

Exterior view of the Adobe Los Encinos Rancho near Ventura Boulevard, Los Angeles, [s.d.]

Exterior view of the Gilmore Gasoline station, located at the intersection of Wilshire and La Brea, ca.1920

View of an adobe on Rancho Cañada de los Osos in San Luis Obispo County on Morro Bay, 1938

Exterior view of an adobe on Rancho Temblor, Bakersfield, 1935

Exterior view of an adobe on the Hammel and Denker ranch, formerly Rancho Rodeo de Las Aguas in Beverly Hills, 1920

Exterior view of Santa Barbara County's modern City Hall building which adjoins two old adobes of old Rancho Guadalupe, September 4, 1937

The home of Elias J. ("Lucky") Baldwin, the former Hugo Reid Adobe, at Rancho Santa Anita, ca.1903

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Rancho Cienega de la Tijera Adobe from the east, 1924

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