There’s Lots of Room at the Top of This Building

On the streets below, jackhammers pound away, traffic is a mess, horns blare and scrambling pedestrians crowd the sidewalks.

Downtown Los Angeles is like that these days--noisy, restless, on the move.

Yet, only seconds away, in a rooftop residence about to open to a new generation of admirers, the pace is slower.

Take the middle elevator from the open lobby of the Oviatt Building to the penthouse, a stop above the 12th floor. There the elevator operator, an anachronism in downtown’s high-rises, opens the door leading directly into the magical home and hideaway that master clothier-merchant James Oviatt built in the 1920s.

The elevator doors close, and you step back in time. You’re in Oviatt’s penthouse--a realm of its own, splendidly structured and outfitted in exquisite marble, gleaming hand-carved wood floors, fine silk-covered walls and glass lighting fixtures, and decorative metal bearing the unmistakable genius of Rene Lalique.

Here, too, are Lalique’s etched glass windows. Chances are the noted French glass craftsman wasn’t concerned about street noise 60 years ago. But his delicate windows block out the tumult of the streets below, insulating the penthouse.

Later this week, on Wednesday and Thursday, special ceremonies will mark the completion of a major restoration and renovation project on the elegant 10-room suite and adjoining rooftop terrace.

The project was undertaken by the Lehndorff Group, one of the Oviatt Building’s present owners, and is the second such renovation in 10 years. In the late 1970s, the development firm of Ratkovich, Bowers Inc. rehabilitated the penthouse as part of the building’s restoration. That endeavor was widely acclaimed as a recycling model for historically important downtown buildings.

With the Oviatt Building now considered a “one-of-a-kind landmark� in downtown Los Angeles, as Richard Ginise, a Lehndorff official puts it, the primary goal of the penthouse’s renovation was to maintain the structure’s historic character.

“We were careful not to disturb any of the original Art Deco design,� says Ginise, regional manager of Lehndorff Management of California Inc., a Lehndorff Group subsidiary. “(And we) felt it was important to make it available to the public.�

Small groups using Oviatt’s rooftop dwelling will see a faithful revival of the living quarters that crown the store and office building that went up in 1928, when the city’s height limit was only 13 stories.

Of course, Oviatt, a man of impeccable taste and business savvy, could not foresee the way downtown would change. His penthouse, at the time it was built, was romantically called a “Castle in the Air.� After a 1930 visit, a Times writer described it as “architecturally graceful, luxurious in appointments, sumptuous and artistic adornment.�

Since then, downtown’s high-rise office building boom, no longer restricted by a height limit, has dwarfed the Italian Romanesque Oviatt building. Even the clock tower, atop the penthouse, seems like a toy among the neighboring high-rises, some towering more than 60 stories.

But what Oviatt’s Building lacks in height, by today’s standards, is more than compensated by its quality and durability.

Oviatt, a consummate traveler, was fascinated by the Art Deco craze of the 1920s. He scoured Europe--and especially France--for the finest craftsmen, designs and material for the building and penthouse he planned at 617 S. Olive St., only steps from Pershing Square.

As president of the prestigious clothing store, Alexander & Oviatt, he was in a position to get the best money could buy. He knew style and design. He also knew what he wanted of the building and penthouse and commissioned a host of French designers and artisans. Lalique was his prize.

City’s Recognition

“Although numerous architects, engineers, designers and craftsmen contributed their talents to the creation of (the) building, the ensemble was orchestrated by Mr. Oviatt,� noted the nomination papers for placing the Oviatt Building on the National Register of Historic Places.

Approved in 1983, the nomination followed the city’s recognition of the building as a cultural-historic monument.

While Lalique left his imprint on every room in the penthouse, the famed designer-glassmaker’s biggest single contribution to the building was the lobby area. There he designed and fabricated the original illuminated metal and glass marquee, an illuminated glass ceiling--since changed--the main entrance and glass elevator doors, the mail box and other items.

Lalique’s work on the Oviatt Building, it was said, represented the renowned designer’s largest single commercial commission.

Became Restaurant

Until the store closed in 1969, Alexander & Oviatt’s, serving a clientele that could afford fine, expensive clothes, occupied the building’s ground floor, mezzanine, second and third floors and basement.

As part of the Ratkovich Bowers restoration, the clothing store’s ground floor and mezzanine space was transformed into the luxurious Rex II Ristorante. Patterned after the dining salon on the Italian ocean liner Rex, it was opened as an elegant--and costly--dining establishment, and has maintained that reputation.

Oviatt, a perfectionist, would have approved. Early each morning, so the story goes, he rode the elevator from his penthouse down to the store. There he whisked white-gloved hands over countertops and glass cases while clerks watched in awe.

He was a bachelor when he moved into the apartment. On one of his later inspection tours through the store, he took a fancy to an attractive young saleswoman. That afternoon, in the privacy of his penthouse, according to reports, he asked her to marry him.

Luxurious Surroundings

Although early newspaper accounts described the penthouse as a “bachelor menage,� Oviatt and his wife, Mary, shared the rooftop residence until their deaths in the early 1970s.

Thanks to Oviatt’s taste, expertise and money, they lived in luxurious surroundings.

“The penthouse interiors (were) the ultimate statement of that period,� says Frank K. Pennino, whose interior design firm, Frank K. Pennino & Associates, oversaw the present restoration.

Guests stepping from the elevator now will see virtually the same flooring spaces that Oviatt and his architects laid out 60 years ago.

Indeed, the only substantial structural change was in the main dining room, which was enlarged by knocking out a wall and incorporating a small bedroom as part of the dining area.

Marble from France

Elsewhere, Lalique’s touches--and the handy work of other Jazz Age craftsmen--remain intact.

In the spacious living room, for example, the fireplace is framed in marble from Southern France. Oviatt liked the material so much he used it throughout the penthouse. The floor of the living room is also dazzling with hand-carved parquet forming asymmetrical, intersecting arc under walls nearly covered in moire silk.?

The Oviatts’ master bedroom is much as the couple left it. The bed, mounted on a platform, is an oddity by today’s design standards. Thus the room, according to building manager Ann Marie Denault, will serve as a 1920s showpiece or museum.

However, the adjoining bathroom is likely to attract even more attention because of its wild color schemes. Topped by a skylight, the bathroom’s notched walls are terra cotta, the adjoining steam room is done in chartreuse tile, the enclosed commode is tan and the bidet, also enclosed, is royal blue.

Furnishings Restored

After the death of the Oviatts, most of the furniture was sold, although a few pieces, such as the original burl-wood banquet table and matching side tables, remained. Both pieces have been restored and are among 100 chairs, tables, mirrors, cabinets, lamps, pillows, photographs and other items used to furnish the penthouse.

One of the most eye-catching is a leather painting on cat skin, depicting the industrial era of the 1920s and 1930s, which was hung in the living room. Pennino also found a Jean Harlow dressing table with peach fringe for the bedroom.

Lehndorff officials say the idea of the renovation was not so much to duplicate the penthouse the way it was, but rather to recapture the flavor of the Art Deco 1920s era.

At $1,500 an event, the penthouse will be available for small gatherings. Special catering facilities were built on the 12th floor, below the penthouse, in kitchen space once used by Oviatt’s Chinese chef.

The renovation also included a revamping of the outdoor terrace for dancing and other uses. Surrounded by a wall, it once contained a small pool, tennis court and, according to reports, a patch of sand for sunbathing.

Rising above the terrace is the building’s tower faced on three sides by clocks with neon numerals. The clocks were said to be the first of their kind on a downtown Los Angeles building. They are balanced at the other end of the terrace by a turret, which provided splendid views of the ocean many years ago.

Now, because of the surrounding skyscrapers, one has to use his or her imagination.