The Garnier Building

Built in 1890 by Philippe Garnier, a French settler who arrived in Los Angeles in 1859 at age eighteen, the Garnier Building reflected the standing of a family that owned the 4,400-acre Rancho Los Encinos in the San Fernando Valley, raised sheep, remained financially well off and influential in local commerce despite losses in the 1872 wool market crash, and included Philippe Garnier, who served as a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank from 1879 to 1891 and is believed to have constructed several other Los Angeles buildings. Designed primarily for Chinese commercial tenants, with rent for the entire building set at $200 a month for its first three years, it became the oldest building in Los Angeles exclusively and continuously inhabited by Chinese immigrants from its construction in 1890 until the State took it over in 1953, serving as headquarters for major Chinese American organizations and housing businesses, churches, and schools.

Los Angeles, California · United States