History of the Pico House, St. Vibiana Cathedral and St. Vincent De Paul Church

The Pico House

St. Vibiana's Cathedral

St. Vincent de Paul Church

2/13/2012

Carla Garcia

Humanities 250

Mr. Robert Samo

Edward Laurence Doheny was born in 1856, and became an American oil tycoon; who is well known for helping fund the construction of St. Vincent de Paul Church. St. Vincent de Paul Church was designed by Albert C. Martin between 1922 and 1923 and built between 1923 and 1925. He modeled after a mid-18th century church in Taxco Guerrero, Mexico (Santa Prisca Church). The facade, bell tower and dome of St. Vincent de Paul display the Baroque style of Spanish colonial architecture known as Churrigueresque.

St. Vincent's is located in what was then one of the wealthiest sections of the city, on land adjacent to the Edward Doheny Mansion and Stimson House. It was the second Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles to be consecrated.

While Ralph Adams Cram designed the interior, the interior ceiling decoration is by John B. Smeraldi. The underside of the dome features eight paintings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and their symbols: man, lion, ox and an eagle.

Just being inside the church you can see and get the great detail in how the architects put into the building of St. Vincent de Paul Church took so much imagination with all the bust placed throughout the church inside and outside; The high arcs that resemble the Greeks architectural contribution and its domes similar to St. Peter's Cathedral design by Michelangelo and an architectural contribution of the Romans. The art inside the church was done by John B. Smeraldi, who I believe reflect the domes from the Church of the Holy Wisdom, in Istanbul, Turkey. The art and sculptures decorations were design by Ralph Adams Cram who I think reflect St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy. Bonze and marble are used for the flooring of the saint's chapels and on the wall decorations. Making them looks like the use gold, but I can forget that this church was a donation from the wealthiest man in the area.

The Pico House was Los Angeles' first three story building, acquitted with 82 bedrooms and 21 parlors rooms. The Pico House is an Italianate style hotel designed by architect Ezra Keysor; which beside of the bedrooms and the parlors it also boasted with indoor plumbing, opulent gas-powered chandeliers, a fountain courtyard, and a French restaurant on the ground floor.

Build between 1869 and 1870; became the finest hotel in the Southwest America. The Pico House was the dream of Pío Pico, the last Mexican Governor of California, who sold his land holdings in the San Fernando Valley in order to pay