The Fire Stations of Bunker Hill

After a couple of solid weeks out in Chavez Ravine, let’s get back to Bunker Hill.

And do you know what was on Bunker Hill? Fire Stations!

There were two engine companies on Bunker Hill, and images of neither made the book Bunker Hill, Los Angeles (though there is a passing mention of the Hope Street station on pp. 16-17). So, in the interest of covering all things Bunker Hill, we’re going to take a look at these stations. (I won’t got into the whole history of the LAFD; to learn more about the noble institution, click here, and don’t forget to go to their museums!)

I. Engine Companies No. 3 & 8, 354 South Hill St. (1896-1900)

We begin our consideration of Bunker Hill fire stations on Hill near Fourth Street, specifically, on the east, even-numbered side of Hill Street. You might ask, is across the street still Bunker Hill? I say yes indeed (or at least I made that assertion when I posted about the Hotel Clark).

Engine Company No. 3 was founded in 1887. They had a couple of locations, on Main Street and West Third, before they moved into this structure, at 352-58 South Hill St.:

Aloise Reithmuller built the Hill Street station in 1896 for the Los Angeles Fire Department; Robert Brown Young, architect. LAFD leased the facility, and kept it as its headquarters, until 1900, when they could move into their own purpose-built fire station. The Young-designed firehouse then became a commercial structure:

II. Engine Company No. 3, 217 South Hill St. (1901-1923)

In late 1901, Engine Company 3 moves across and up the street, to 217 South Hill St.:

Frank Dale Hudson designed Engine No. 3, in 1901, at 217 South Hill St.; it is one of his final solo projects before the October 1901 partnership with William Munsell. Hudson’s relationship to Bunker Hill is probably best known through the Hudson & Munsell Elk’s Lodge.

Here is an incredible shot from the Homestead Museum:

III. Engine Company No. 3 and Dept. HQ, 217 South Hill St. (1924-1980)

The 1901 structure is razed in the spring of 1923, and in its place rose a mighty Fire Department HQ, dedicated July 30, 1924:

The four-story structure is by Rudolph Meier. Meier worked primarily on large commercial and institutional structures, like the Lynwood branch of Farmers & Merchants Bank of Compton (at Long Beach & Mulford, it was a victim of the ’33 quake), and First National in La Habra (described in the papers as “Modern Aztec,” it was once at Euclid & La Habra); the California Preparatory Institute for Boys, Covina; and Mother Cabrini’s orphanage in Burbank (which became the Villa Cabrini Academy in 1937). His best residential project was this home (once sited amid twenty acres of orange groves) for Thomas Clay Mayo.

In 1950, the Fire Dept HQ gets an addition to its south:

Hoooo boy, it is hard for me to love a shot more. This is from LAPL’s Mildred Harris collection, captured in November 1958. Wonderful Bunker Hill architectural juxtaposition: at left is the Vendome, 231 South Hill St. (Charles H. Brinkhoff for the Barr Realty Company; 1900, demol. 1963). Next door, the 1950 addition, designed by none other than Albert C. Martin & Assoc., and the 1924 Meier HQ, and the small structure adjacent is the Fred Dorn-designed auto park and office/shops that became a county garage, built 1910 in the front yard of the Hotel Lincoln at 207 South Hill St. (read about the Lincoln on p. 127 of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles).  Then in the distance across West Second St., is everybody’s favorite dirt patch, with the brand-new County Courthouse looming o’er, and the skeleton of the Hall of Administration behind.

Another look at the 1950 fire station annex:

It’s hard to believe, but these lasted all the way into the early 1980s. Here they are in a couple of William Reagh shots from 1979:

In 1973, LAFD HQ had relocated into City Hall East. In September 1980 Fire Station No. 3 had moved to a new facility at 108 North Fremont Ave. The Hill Street structures were demolished by the Community Redevelopment Agency in early 1981.

Today:

The area is now site of a Wells Fargo Parking Garage, developed by Macquire Partners and opened in 1983. Like the Angelus Plaza facility that wraps “L”-like around it, it was designed by Dworsky Associates. This garage is currently managed by megaparker ABM.

IV. Engine Company No. 16, 139 North Hope St. (1904-1960)

Engine Company No. 3 down on Hill Street—Bunker Hill’s eastern edge—is all fine and good, but what about a station actually up on the Hill?

Nineteenth-century folks living atop Bunker Hill were served by various fire stations nearby, but nevertheless felt it necessary to have their own. Judge Julius Brousseau, of 238 South Bunker Hill fame, led the charge:

The Fire Commission agreed, and, after a few years, 1904 saw the opening of Engine Company No. 16, at 139 North Hope St.:

It was originally supposed to be Engine Company No. 13, but the firemen figured they had enough problems without adding a “hoodoo number” to the mix.

This station was designed by none other than John C. Austin. Austin’s best-known Bunker Hill building is of course the Fremont Hotel, and he had his hand in a couple of structures down on the Hill’s eastern Hill Street flank, which I discuss here.

In early 1912, when LAFD added Truck Company No. 6, the station had this 15 x 76′ addition built on to its south side. It was designed by Dennis & Farwell. Obviously, there wasn’t that much for D&F to do, given as their mission was to match the original structure:

Where was this structure, you ask? Well, when you see shots—as you invariably do—taken from atop City Hall’s 27th-floor observation deck, looking west over Bunker Hill:

Let your eye travel up Court Street (near the right in the above image) and then, there, up there near the corner of Court and Hope—

The demolition permit, dated February 7 1961, lists the owner as the Department of Water and Power. As such:

V. More Fire-Themed Snaps of Bunker Hill

The vast majority of the images in this post are from LAFire.com — if you click that link and hit the sidebar, the two Bunker Hill-related stations are “Fire Station 3” and “Fire Station 16.” I would heartily recommend you taking a look, though, at all the fire stations. So many incredible early LA structures (with a majority replaced by quintessential postwar structures, and in both cases, a whole host of interesting architects involved—fun fact: Station No. 9 was designed by Robert Brown Young, with requisite Youngian corner tower, though Young designed No. 11 in Mission Revival!).

There are lots of neat shots of equipment-in-action on the LAFire site, so, let’s look at a handful of other images shot by and of LAFD as they ran about the Hill.

And now you know more than you ever thought you’d know about Engine Companies Three and Sixteen, and their once-upon-a-time locations on Bunker Hill. You’re welcome!