Highland Towers Apartments

Architect: Morgan, Walls & Clements
City: Los Angeles, CA

Built around 1929 as the Hotel Highland Towers, this six-story building at 1920-1928 North Highland Avenue was designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements, the firm behind the Wiltern, Mayan, El Capitan, and other Los Angeles landmarks. It operated as a hotel from about 1930 to 1945, at one point housing the writer William Faulkner in its penthouse suite, before its 48 units became apartments.

the building

Amenities. The building holds 48 units across six stories, with a rooftop garden, a basement swimming pool, and carved wood cornices.

Famous guests. During its hotel years, William Faulkner lived in the penthouse suite, and actresses May Robson and Thelma Todd — the latter with her mother — also resided in the building.

the architect

Morgan, Walls & Clements, the firm behind Highland Towers, was responsible for numerous Los Angeles landmarks, including the Dominguez–Wilshire Building, Adamson House, Chapman Plaza, and the El Capitan, Music Box, Wiltern, Mayan, and Belasco theaters.

significance

Health Department citations preceded the building's 1990 designation as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 475.

nearby

Freeman House 450 ft · modern · 1925
Lee Drug 0.3 mi · Streamline Moderne · 1935
Bank of America Building 0.3 mi · Beaux-Arts · 1914
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre 0.3 mi · Egyptian Revival · 1922
El Capitan Theatre 0.3 mi · Spanish Colonial Revival · 1926
Max Factor Make-Up Salon 0.3 mi · 1916

All 315 buildings in Los Angeles