The Littleton Company and Pasadena Architects

by Scott Feldmann

The Littleton Company worked with three noted architects in Pasadena from 1915 to 1925: Elmer Grey, Louis DuPuget Millar and Walter C. Folland. They also seemed to have launched the California career of one – Folland, who moved to Pasadena from Salt Lake City, Utah in 1922. Yet they created a design-build firm that advertised that architects were an unnecessary expense, and that the industry was headed that way, and that they could save their clients’ money by eliminating architects!

 Covington Henry Scott Littleton was a wealthy capitalist in his day, a dentist and inventor. After moving from Philadelphia to Pasadena in 1908, he became an orange grove owner and builder. In the early 1920s his two sons were involved with him in The Littleton Company, building notable homes, stores, churches and apartment buildings in Pasadena, Hollywood and Hermosa Beach, California. The apex of their efforts was realized in The Barcelona, Pasadena’s first co-op apartment building, designed by Walter C. Folland.

 Elmer Grey & The Pasadena Playhouse

Elmer Grey was the most significant architect with whom The Littleton Company collaborated, on the Pasadena Playhouse. Nationally prominent, Grey worked with Myron Hunt, and left a legacy of his own unique designs from Milwaukee to Pasadena and Los Angeles. Grey built and lived in a home in Pasadena at 1372 South El Molino Ave. That may be where he first met Covington Henry Scott Littleton and family, who built a home immediately north of him at 1350 S. El Molino, in 1915 (designed by Louis DuPuget Millar). (1) Littleton’s lived there two years, and left when both of their sons, Covington Henry Scott, Jr., and Calvin Tracy Hazen, ages 21 and 19, had moved out, to go to college, and ultimately to enlist in the military in World War I. In 1923 The Littleton Company was credited in the Pasadena Star-News with selecting Elmer Grey as the architect for the Pasadena Playhouse, which they eventually got the contract to build, and started but did not complete. (2) The Pasadena Community Playhouse was actually a collaborative effort with many community leaders involved, and Grey was a prominent architect. His partner’s wife, Mrs. Myron Hunt, was on the Playhouse Board. So, it’s difficult to say exactly what the relationship was between Littleton and Grey in the design of the Playhouse, and given the timing of events, whether it was Littleton senior or junior who made the connection. The patriarch was retiring, grieving the death of his son Calvin, whose ambitious older brother was growing the family firm at a rapid pace, and featured in the papers as being in charge. Junior went on to graduate school at Yale and became a playwright. Either way, there’s no doubt of the collaboration - the very first rendering of the proposed playhouse had a title card on it showing two credits: The Littleton Company, Contractors & Builders, and Elmer Grey, Architect. And several Pasadena Star-News stories reference the collaboration, as does the book The Pasadena Playhouse, by Judy O’Sullivan, and the memoir 2500 Strand by Littleton’s grandson, C. Scott Littleton.

Louis DuPuget Millar & The Littleton’s El Molino Home

Another prominent architect who worked with C. H. S. Littleton was Louis DuPuget Millar, who designed the house that Littleton built - for his family - next door to Grey, at 1350 S. El Molino Ave., in 1915. (3) DuPuget Millar was an educated engineer and trained architect from Ireland. Moving to Pasadena in 1911, one of his more notable residences was for the famed interior designer E. J. Cheeswright, featuring a Cotswold cottage style thatched roof, with a craftsman interior of plastered walls that were notably brighter than the typical darkened craftsman cottages of the era. The home he designed for Littleton was English Revival. Permit records show it as 11 rooms with mahogany floors and finishes and three tile fireplaces. (3) Built at a cost of $10,000, it came right after Littleton’s extensive acreage of Orange Groves were ruined by frost and facing steep mortgage payments, and right before his two sons went off to enlist in World War I. Perhaps this is why they moved away shortly after moving in. Littleton built the house, using his experience as a builder in Philadelphia in the late 1890s, where he was a prominent contractor, and appears to have developed his tendency to work with noted architects of his era and region. (5)

DuPuget Millar, born in 1877 in Dublin, Ireland, had emigrated to the U. S. in 1907. He died in 1944, in Bakersfield, California. (6)

Walter C. Folland & The Barcelona Ownership Apartments

Walter C. Folland was the architect of the Barcelona Apartments. Folland also worked with the Littleton Sr. to transform a J. C. Austin home at 116 S. El Molino from a multi-room mansion into an apartment building, renamed the Chatham Apartments, (named for the Navy Post in Massachusetts where his oldest son served in WWI, as a pilot protecting the East Coast from German U-Boats.) (7) Ultimately, The Chatham was the home of C. H. S. Littleton and his wife Clara, from the mid-Twenties until about 1937, a time of great financial distress for the family and the entire country, as the Great Depression descended.

Born on August 2nd, 1886 in Salt Lake City to Eli and Rachael Folland, Walter was one of eleven children. (William Henry Folland, Eli Lewis Folland, Robert Shelby Folland, Walter Czar Folland, Frank Joseph Folland, Edna Ann Street (born Folland), George Arthur Folland, Richard Earl Folland, Rachel Arline Brewster (born Folland), Eugene Abdiel Folland, Evelyn Pearl Welker (born Folland), Grace La Verne Paulsen (born Folland). At age 15 Walter was living at home at 750 West South Temple Street, next door to eight more Folland’s of some relation or another, probably grandparents and Aunt, Uncle and cousins. His oldest brother would become the City Attorney for Salt Lake City, and ultimately, a State Supreme Court Judge. His brother Richard was a Missionary for LDS Saints in Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, until 1944. No explanation for Walter’s unusual middle name, Czar, was mentioned in newspaper accounts. (8)

 His father, Eli Abel Folland was born in 1855 in Exeter, Devon, England and emigrated to the United States in 1864, at age 9. His family immediately travelled to Salt Lake City, Utah in the Oxcart Company of Captain Warren S. Snow, departing from Nebraska in August and arriving Salt Lake City three months later. His first trade was as a Patternmaker in a metal foundry, but he eventually became a Superintendent of the School Grounds, and at some point, Superintendent of the Salt Lake Foundry and Machine Company. He served on City Council for four years and was on the Building Committee during the construction of the City & County Building, a cathedral style government building that was the seat of power in Salt Lake, and is a National Register Historic Landmark today.

 Walter’s mother, Rachael, who died in 1917, was from Wales. The last of her eleven children, Grace, appears to have been born when Rachael was 45-years old. She stopped short of replicating her own family, for she had twelve siblings, herself. Her mother and father, William and Anne Lewis, were Salt Lake City Pioneers. The Folland’s owned their home, mortgage-free. His Uncle Henry, who lived next door, was a machinist and iron worker. Eli died of pneumonia on January 24, 1922, and shortly after that, at age 36, Walter and his wife relocated to Pasadena, California, where they would reside for the next 28 years. He became a prominent architect, in particular for mansions, but also for apartments and small single-family homes – and even a Route 66 Tourist attraction – a building in the shape of a shoe.

 Regarding his formative years, in Utah, there are some breadcrumbs in newspaper articles. On the 1910 Census it says that Walter was an assistant draughtsman for the Short Line Railroad. Some newspaper clippings from the pre-war era show that Walter was an architect with an office at 820 McIntyre Building, and it is clear that he was getting starter jobs from his father, Eli, who was Supervisor of Schools at a salary of $2,400 annually. In fact, it must have been quite a few projects, for in 1913 one story said “City’s School System Sign of Civic Growth,” and cited local architect and engineer Walter C. Folland as “. . . experting the plans of over $5,000,000 in western work”. He was considered for an appointment to the City’s Bureau of Mechanical Inspection, and was the popular choice, but it’s not clear if he got it since the newly appointed Bureau Chief had his own man for the job. In 1914 Folland won a competition to design the Sugarhouse Police and Fire Station, and was active in the local Architectural Society: The Atelier Pallinar. Like many others, his career was interrupted when he enlisted to serve in WWI. Before signing up for military service in the Great War, Folland had served for three years in the National Guard, and had attained the rank of Corporal. He enlisted on June 15, 1917. It appears he was stationed in Eureka, Colorado, according to his mother’s obituary from December of that year. At age 30 on his draft card he listed his trade as “Draughts-man” for the U. S. Refining & Smelting Mining Co. in Salt Lake City. At the time of his employment there, USSR&M was listed on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time, on March 23, 1916. USSR&M was the second largest smelting company in the United States, and was organized in 1906. (New York Times, March 23, 1916). It had many buildings on the property and was in a constant state of growth. He may have designed or assisted in plans and drawings for anything from watch booths to tall smokestacks, as the plant expanded.

His station and service in the military is unknown. When he returned from the war he seems to have been in a hurry. A July 26, 1919 report in the Salt Lake Tribune reveals that police charged him with a speeding ticket – in excess of 45-miles an hour on State Street.

He clearly resumed his architectural pursuits, and he got hitched. Just before departing for Pasadena, he entered a competition to design a Serviceman’s Memorial Building for those from Utah who had served in various wars. He won a prize. Although he showcased the rendering in his brochure for his Pasadena practice, no trace of the State War Memorial in Salt Lake City seems to exist today. It went unbuilt. Some articles from 1919 indicate a degree of controversy about the proposed site location, and a hefty estimated cost of $1,000.000 may have been out of reach. However, he and seven other applicants were paid $250 for their drawings.

Folland is not listed among the architects in Pasadena in the January listing of the Southwest Builder & Contractor, but it’s likely that he did not head out to California until February or March, after his fathers’ passing on January 24th of 1922, of pneumonia. It’s unclear why he and his wife Olive selected Pasadena, but it was fortunate for the Crown City that they did. Architectural gems of the era, in a variety of styles, dotted the landscape, and several remain extant in 2020, including The Barcelona Apartments. By 1926 he was noted, winning competitions, and working in at offices at 631 Pacific-Southwest Building.

The first plans for The Barcelona, at 85 N. Madison Avenue in Pasadena, were mentioned in the Pasadena Star-News in May, 1922. (9) He obviously connected pretty quickly with The Littleton Company, since he became the architect for their premier project immediately after arriving in Pasadena, with no local projects at hand. However, in December of that year The Littleton Company was advertising for an architectural draftsman in the LA Times. (10) This was two months after construction had begun, yet four months before its completion. Were they seeking an assistant for Folland, or a replacement? Regardless, after envisioning the experimental and thoroughly modern (for the times) Barcelona, he would also design at least three Mediterranean homes on California Street for them as well. But he must have been independent, not on payroll, for he took on other commissions that were not Littleton-related. One was the Stillman B. Jamieson House on Orange Grove Ave., which was, at $100,000, a huge project for a very wealthy Chicago attorney and former Judge, who was relocating to Pasadena. (11)

The Barcelona was an experiment both in housing design and home-ownership models for Pasadena. So, not only the design attributes, (ice box access from the hallway,) but also the financial proposition, (co-op plan,) was “cutting edge,” – for a brief moment in time. (12) It was one of the first tall residential apartment buildings, in a community of one- or two-story houses, and bungalow courts rather than high-rises. The marketing hyped not one, but two elevators inside (one was actually a dumbwaiter). The concept went through some design changes, in an impulsively short time frame, most likely related to budget, but possibly related to pressures from competition, and indecision by investors over function as well. Was it an apartment, or a hotel? The corporation founded to finance it was maddeningly named “The Pasadena Apartment-Hotel Company.” And the design of the entrance and lobby, with its check-in desk and open living/dining room, maintains this ambiguity almost 100-years later.

The Barcelona was first announced in July 1922 as a four story, 130-room hotel, then within a month revised to a five-story apartment building with a roof-top garden and billiard room, kitchen and dining hall. By September it was actually permitted as a 4-story, gable-roofed 130-room Apartment-Hotel. (13) Yet, in 2019, it was discovered that there were as many as five toilets plumbed and installed in the basement, with one being in a room that had a full shower. No kitchen was apparent, but several work rooms make it appear that the basement was set up for full-time staff, such as in a kitchen or laundry. No evidence exists that it was ever staffed that way, no broken pool cues have surfaced either, and so it remains a mystery why so many bathroom stalls were installed down there, during the Prohibition era. During its construction, significant competition was created when the Castle Green converted from hotel to Ownership-Apartments. The Barcelona would open on May 6th, 1923. Other than the two properties, no other significant co-ops were constructed. Both were eventually converted to condominiums. Almost 100-years later The Barcelona would be listed as a contributing factor in the designation of the Pasadena Playhouse Historic District on the National Register, citing Folland as its architect.

Built prior to modern refrigeration, each of 30 living units were equipped with an exterior closet, accessible from the hallway, where the ice deliveries as well as laundry and dry goods could be made without disturbing the resident. Inside each apartment was a special built-in shelf for a new-fangled thing that was not yet common in every home – a telephone. Every kitchen stove was vented to the outside, and some especially small units, with no kitchens at all, were positioned as flex space, intended as Maid’s Quarters, but convertible to an apartment if desired. All of the units were small, compared to a single family detached home, and were designed to have hide-away beds. The construction was of brick, and much was made of a hollow wall feature that was supposed to make the building “impervious to outside weather” such that it would always be cool when hot outside, and warm when there was a chill in the air. The temperate California climate would never test that theory to the extremes.

When first announced, the Barcelona was unnamed. The design was stated to be “either Italian or Spanish in style.” A naming contest was run in the paper. (14) No one knows who won that competition, but apparently it led to Folland’s application of the decidedly Spanish Cathedral entrance design of cast stone ornamentation over the front entrance.

Unlike his own father and mother, and his grandparents, who produced children in double digits, Walter and Olive had one daughter, Gloria. They moved around a bit, but seemed to have settled in at 224 Oak Knoll, Pasadena, by 1936.

Aside from The Barcelona, and the Stillman B. Jamieson House at 160 S. Orange Grove Ave., other notable buildings by Walter C. Folland throughout Los Angeles are highlighted in a fancy brochure he produced circa July 1927, (dated by a news clipping of the War Mother’s Rest Home, which he calls La Casa Madre Hospital,) to promote his services. Some photographs he used were of completed buildings, others were renderings which may not have been built, such as the Service Man’s Memorial for the State of Utah. The complete list includes:

·      N. Mariposa Ave., Hollywood, Calif.

·      Mickle Residence, Oakwood Drive, Pasadena Calif.

·      Fair Oaks Theatre for Raymond Peterson, Pasadena Calif.

·      Alfred Jones Apartments, N. Los Robles, Calif.

·      Chatham Apartments, C. H. S. Littleton Owner, El Molino Ave. at Pasadena, Calif.

·      Spanish Village, Oakmont Heights, Verdugo Woodlands (drawing)

·      The Disbrow Spanish Market Shops, Colorado St. at Berkeley Drive, Pasadena, Calif.

·      A. G. Spohr residence, 274 Hillside Dr., Eagle Rock, Calif.

·      L. C. Osborne Residence, Cresenta (sic) Oaks

·      H. E. Ewing Estate, including the Temple of Vista and a garage with servant’s quarters, on Beverly Drive, Brentwood Park, Los Angeles, CA

·      Stillman, Bingham, Jameson Estate (sic), at 160 Orange Grove Ave., Pasadena CA

·      C. E. Spencer Estate, Country Club Drive, adjoining Oakmont Country Club, Verdugo Woodlands

·      Gray Building, Glassell Ave., Los Angeles, CA, Vernal Gray M. D. Owner

·      English Village, Verdugo Woodlands (Drawings, 2)

·      Blasdell Arms, Rampart nr 7th Street, Los Angeles

·      W. E. Bennison Apts., Huntington Dr., Pasadena

·      George Cossitt White residence, Sierra Bonita Ave. at California St., Pasadena CA

·      Proposed Realty Building, Los Angeles, CA

·      Geo. L. McAlpine Residence, 1620 California St., Pasadena

·      E. R. Darlington Residence, 1630 California St., Pasadena

·      Wm. M Pargellis Residence, Oakmont Heights, Verdugo Woodlands

·      La Casa Madre Hospital (Drawing)

A Pasadena Star-News story on July 3rd, 1926 with a feature photo showcases 1288 Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, a “Spanish Style Marks Structure” for Alfred Jones.

On January 6th, 1926 the Pasadena Star-News announced that Folland had won the architectural competition to design a proposed new neighborhood for a Newport development firm. His submission of a Norman style home that could be built for $20,000 beat out the designs of 19 others. This commission was for the Verdugo Woodlands and Oakmont Heights developments. Folland designed an English Village and three large manor houses that were built there, and other architects followed his design standards.

Most of his buildings show as stately and refined, but he played with whimsy on at least one occasion. In 1928 he designed the Mother Goose Pantry, a two-story restaurant in the shape of a shoe, as a roadside attraction on the new Mother Road – Route 66. (15) By the 1950s that historical sample of Roadside Vernacular architecture was torn down. He dabbled in Art Deco as well, delivering a little gem located at 45 S. Mentor Ave., today known as Bistro 45.

Folland seems to have adapted well to patrons with novel commercial concepts, like The Barcelona co-ops. Another creation of his was the Covent Garden Market, at Colorado Blvd. and Berkeley Ave., built in 1926. It was essentially a Farmers’ Market, aggregating independent growers, side by side. The story says “Today, big business is convinced of the soundness of this “get together” merchandising – not simply for the good of one but for the added sales and profit of all.” (16)

Plans were announced for a the largest Folland commission of his career, to design a $600,000 hotel at the northeast corner of Colorado Blvd. and DeLacey Avenue. (17) However, the “Pasadena and Los Angeles Capitalists” lauded in the 1929 Pasadena Star-News story must have gotten cold feet a few months after the stock market crash, for what was actually built there back in 1911, Clunes Theatre, a Vaudeville/Movie Palace type, would have had to have been torn down, and apparently was not. It’s where Crate and Barrell is today.

Walter C. Folland died on April 15th, 1951 in Pasadena CA. Olive lived in the family home until the late 60’s, and worked at PacBell. Gloria, born in 1941, married and became Gloria Folland Andrews.

References

1.     Pasadena Planning & Building Department, Historic Reference Files, searchable database for 1350 S. El Molino Ave., 1915.

2.     “Builders to Start New Theater”, Pasadena Star-News, May 10th, 1924, P. 1, Part 2.

3.     “Pasadena News Notes”, Southwest Contractor, July 3rd, 1915, Page 18.

4.     Walter C. Folland marketing brochure, Downton Los Angeles Public Library, Reference Desk vertical files.

5.     Philadelphis paper reference

6.     Millar, Louis DuPuget, Dictionery of Irish Architects, 1720 – 1940, online resource.

7.     Chatham classified ad, Pasadena Star-News classified ad, January 1 & 6, 1925 – Pasadena Public Library Microfiche

8.     Folland, Walter Czar and family, assorted documents downloaded from MyHeritage.com, including U. S. Census data, draft cards, and stories from Newspapers.com, including:

a.     The Salt Lake Herald-Republican, Sun., Feb. 9, 1913, P. 40

b.     Ibid., Sat. Feb. 21, 1914, P. 10

c.     Deseret Evening News, Tue., Feb. 17, 1914, P. 6

d.     Salt Lake Telegram, Wed., Jul. 1, 1914, P. 8

e.     Ibid., Mon., Dec. 10, 1917, P. 3

f.      The Salt Lake Tribune, Sat., Jul. 26, 1919, P. 2

g.     Salt Lake Telegram, Sun., Mar. 6, 1921, P. 17

h.     Ibid., Tue., Jan. 24, 1922

9.     “Large Apartment House to be Erected Soon” Pasadena Star-News, May 26, 1922, P. 1, Part Two

10.  Los Angeles Times help wanted, architectural draftsman ad, Los Angeles Times, Sat., Dec. 30, 1922, P. 10

11.  “Choice House Being Built Locally” Pasadena Star-News, Sat., May 10, 1924, P. 37

12.  Barcelona opening day display ad, Pasadena Evening Post, April 25th, 1923

13.   Southwest Builder & Contractor – Barcelona Notices

a.     Southwest Builder & Contractor June 2, 1922 Microfiche, Los Angeles Public Library

b.     Southwest Builder & Contractor June 23, 1922 Microfiche, Los Angeles Public Library

c.     Southwest Builder & Contractor September 1, 1922, P. 41, PDF clipping from Internet

14.  See 9.

15.  “Mother Goose Pantry” Security Pacific National Bank Photo Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

16.  “Artistic Covent Garden Market, Erected at  . . .” Pasadena Star-News, Sat., Sept. 25, 1926, P. 33

17.  “City to Get Large New Hotel” Pasadena Star-News, Jan. 5, 1929.