Exterior view of the California State Normal School, Los Angeles, ca.1905 (CHS-5389)

Exterior view of the California State Normal School, Los Angeles, ca.1905
Photograph of the exterior view of the California State Normal School, on southern Bunker Hill, downtown Los Angeles, ca.1905.
The four-story Victorian-style building can be seen at center overlooking a beautiful courtyard. The building features steep gables, pointed towers and ceilings, a circular tower at left, and a square tower at right. A few other much smaller buildings can be seen at right.
Legible signs include: "State Normal School". The building opened in 1881 and was removed in 1922. It was later the site of the main city library.
"In 1880, with a population of 11,000, Los Angeles was a gaslit pueblo trying to convince the state to establish in Southern California a second State Normal School like the one already existing in San Jose, some 300 miles to the north. In March of the following year, the State Assembly approved the establishment of such a school. A group of enthusiastic citizens, over 200 of whom contributed between $2 and $500, purchased a site less than a mile from the business section. Soon the towering Victorian form of the school rose from an orange grove that, today, is the site of the Central Los Angeles Public Library. On August 29, 1882, the Los Angeles Branch of the State Normal School welcomed its first students. By 1914 the little pueblo of Los Angeles had grown to a city of 350,000 and the school, whose enrollment far exceeded its capacity, moved to new quarters -- a Hollywood ranch off a dirt road which would later become Vermont Avenue. With a view toward expansion, Director Ernest Carroll Moore proposed in 1917 that the school become the first branch of the Berkeley-based University of California. Two years later on May 23, 1919, California Governor William D. Stephens signed the legislation that created the "Southern Branch" of the University of California -- no longer merely a teacher's college but an institution that offered two years of instruction in Letters and Science. Third- and fourth-year courses were soon added, the first class of 300 students was graduated in 1925, and by 1927 the Southern Branch had earned its new name: University of California at Los Angeles (the "at" became a comma in 1958). As the student population of the University continued to increase, the need for a new site became obvious and the search was soon under way for a permanent home for UCLA." — unknown author.

Call number: CHS-5389
Legacy record ID: chs-m4631; USC-1-1-1-4728
Photographer:


C. C. Pierce
 (1861–1946)  


Alternative names

Charles C.

Description
American photographer

Date of birth/death

22 November 1861 
7 November 1946 

Authority control

: Q61995887
VIAF: 68114291
LCCN: n91108254
WorldCat



creator QS:P170,Q61995887
Filename: CHS-5389
Coverage date: circa 1905
Part of collection: California Historical Society Collection, 1860-1960
Type: images
Geographic subject (city or populated place): Los Angeles
Repository name: USC Libraries Special Collections
Accession number: 5389
Microfiche number: 1-18-53
Archival file: chs_Volume49/CHS-5389.tiff
Part of subcollection: Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960
Repository address: Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189
Geographic subject (country): USA
Format (aacr2): 2 photographs : glass photonegative, photoprint, b&w ; 21 x 26 cm., 20 x 25 cm.
Rights: Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California
Subject (adlf): educational facilities
Project: USC
Repository email: [email protected]
Contributing entity: California Historical Society
Date created: circa 1905
Publisher (of the digital version): University of Southern California. Libraries
Format (aat): photographic prints; photographs
Geographic subject (state): California
Subject (file heading): Los Angeles -- Schools -- Colleges & Universities -- State Normal School
Format: glass plate negatives
Access conditions: Send requests to address or e-mail given. Phone (213) 821-2366; fax (213) 740-2343.
Geographic subject (county): Los Angeles
Geographic subject (roadway): Grand Avenue & 5th Street
Subject (lcsh): Schools; Universities and colleges
Subject: California State Normal School