{{Short description|Architecture firm prominent in Los Angeles (1919-1941)}} {{Infobox architectural practice | name = Walker & Eisen | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | caption = | firm_type = | architects = | partners = Albert R. Walker<br>Percy A. Eisen | founders = | principals = | employees = | city = Los Angeles, California | founded = 1919 | dissolved = 1941 | awards = | significant_buildings = Taft Building<br>Hollywood Plaza Hotel<br>United Artists Theatre<br>James Oviatt Building<br>Beverly Wilshire Hotel<br>El Cortez Hotel<br>Valley National Bank Building }}
'''Walker & Eisen''' (1919−1941) was an architectural partnership between Albert Raymond Walker and Percy Augustus Eisen best known for the numerous historic buildings they designed throughout California, particularly in and around Los Angeles. They were considered one of the top firms in the city for several decades.<ref name=eval>{{cite web |title=Historic Resource Assessment 5100-5114 Wilshire Boulevard |url=https://cdn2.larchmontbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Historic_Resource_Assessment_5100_Wilshire.pdf |publisher=Chattel, Inc. |date=May 30, 2013}}</ref>
==Partners== ===Albert Raymond Walker=== {{Infobox architect |name = Albert Raymond Walker |image = |image_size = (if image is smaller than 250px) |caption = |birth_date = {{birth date|1881|5|9}} |birth_place = Sonoma, California |death_date = {{death date and age|1958|9|17|1881|5|9}} |death_place = Los Angeles, California |practice = Walker & Vawter (1910-1916)<br>Walker & Eisen (1919-1941) |parents = Albert Walker, Elizabeth Stevens |spouse = Jesse R. (Morgan) Eisen |education = Brown University }} ====Early life==== Albert Raymond Walker was born on May 9, 1881, in Sonoma, California. His parents were Albert Walker, an immigrant from Norway, and Elizabeth Stevens, from New York. They married in Sonoma around 1880, where Albert Walker worked as a carpenter.<ref name=pcadwalker>{{cite web |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/160/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |title=Albert Raymond Walker (Architect) |access-date=June 15, 2025 |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref>
Albert Walker died during or before 1900, at which point Elizabeth and Albert R. moved to San Diego to live with Elizabeth's sisters.<ref name=pcadwalker/> Albert R. studied at Brown University beginning in 1902.<ref name=onlinearchive>{{cite web |url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf2t1nb0xm/ |publisher=Online Archive of California |title=Walker (Albert R.) papers |access-date=June 15, 2025}}</ref>
====Early career==== From 1901 to 1904, Albert Raymond Walker worked as a draftsman for William S. Hebbard and Irving Gill, where amongst other projects he drafted the George W. Marston House. In 1905 or 1906, Walker moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a draftsman for John Parkinson and George Bergstrom (1905), as a designer for Alfred Rosenheim (1906), and as a designer for Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey (1907).<ref name=pcadwalker/>
Walker earned his California architecture license in February 1908, after which he started his own firm located in Los Angeles's Homer Laughlin Building.<ref name=pcadwalker/> During this time, he designed the Fullerton First Methodist Episcopal Church, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/01000076_text|title=Fullerton First Methodist Episcopal Church / Seventh Day Adventist Church, Church of Religious Science |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |date=March 20, 2000}}</ref>
In 1910, Walker partnered John Terrell Vawter. Their projects included the Edward Strasburg House in Pasadena, Frank C. Hill House in Echo Park, Grible Store Building in Montrose, and the original Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Walker and Vawter's partnership dissolved in 1916, and Walker worked alone from 1917 to 1918.<ref name=pcadwalker/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/firm/194/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |title=Walker and Vawter, Architects (Partnership) |access-date=June 15, 2025 |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref>
====Personal life and death==== Walker and Jesse R. Morgan, six years his junior, married on August 25, 1909. The couple lived in Hollywood during the 1910s and by 1930, they lived in a $40,000 {{USDCY|40000|1930}} Beverly Hills residence with their daughter Eleanor and Jesse's mother. The family's gardener and his family also lived on the property.<ref name=pcadwalker/>
Walker died on September 17, 1958, in Westwood, Los Angeles and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. His wife Jesse died in 1961.<ref name=pcadwalker/>
===Percy Augustus Eisen=== {{Infobox architect |name = Percy Augustus Eisen |image = |image_size = (if image is smaller than 250px) |caption = |birth_date = {{birth date|1885|12|17}} |birth_place = Los Angeles, California |death_date = {{death date and age|1946|11|18|1885|12|17}} |death_place = Los Angeles County, California |practice = Eisen and Son (1908-1917)<br>Walker & Eisen (1919-1941) |spouse = |parents = Theodore Eisen<br>Annie (Bennett) Eisen |education = }}
====Early life==== Percy Augustus Eisen was born in Los Angeles, California on December 17, 1885 to Theodore Eisen, a renowned architect, and Annie (Bennett) Eisen.<ref name=pcadeisen>{{cite web |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/161/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |title=Percy Augustus Eisen (Architect) |access-date=June 15, 2025 |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref>
====Early career==== Eisen partnered with his father Theodore from 1908 to 1917, similar to how Theodore partnered with his father in San Francisco in the 1870s.<ref name=pcadeisen2>{{cite web |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/735/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |title=Theodore Augustus Eisen (Architect) |access-date=June 15, 2025 |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref> Together they designed the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood and Gates Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.<ref name=pcadeisenandson>{{cite web |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/firm/1786/ |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |title=Eisen and Son, Firm #2, Architects (Partnership) |access-date=June 15, 2025 |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref>
====Death==== Eisen died on November 18, 1946, in Los Angeles County.<ref name=pcadeisen/>
===Partnership=== Walker & Eisen was founded in late 1919 as an association between Albert Raymond Walker, Percy Augustus Eisen, and Charles M. Hutchison, Sr.. Hutchinson left the association in 1921 and Walker and Eisen's association dissolved two decades later, in 1941.<ref name=pcadwalkereisen>{{cite web |title=Walker and Eisen, Architects (Partnership) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/firm/70/ |access-date=June 14, 2025 |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref> During their time together, Walker & Eisen was considered one of the top architectural firms in Los Angeles.<ref name=eval/>
Although primarily based in Los Angeles, Walker & Eisen designed numerous buildings throughout California over the two-plus decades they worked together, many of which have been listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) either standalone or as historic district contributing properties.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref}}</ref> Several of their buildings have also been designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments (LAHCMs).<ref name=LAHCM>{{cite web |title=Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) List |publisher=City of Los Angeles |date=April 6, 2024 |url=https://planning.lacity.gov/odocument/24f6fce7-f73d-4bca-87bc-c77ed3fc5d4f/Historical%20Cultural%20Monuments%20List.pdf}}</ref>
In the 1920s and 1930s, Walker & Eisen often worked with movie theater-specialist Clifford A. Balch.<ref name=pcadwalkereisen/> They also employed Clifford's brother William Glenn Balch as a draftsman from 1922 to 1928<ref>{{cite web |title=William Glenn Balch (Architect) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/743/ |access-date=June 16, 2025 |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref> and John E. Costello as a civil engineer in San Francisco from 1927 to 1931.<ref>{{cite web |title=John E. Costello (Civil Engineer) |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/person/7828/ |access-date=June 16, 2025 |publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |first=Alan |last=Michelson}}</ref>
==List of works== {{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=260 | image1 = Taft Building Los Angeles.jpg | image2 = Hollywood Plaza Hotel view from southeast 2015-11-15.jpg | image3 = Regal shoes bldg.jpg | footer = Contributing properties in the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District (clockwise from upper-left): Taft Building, Hollywood Plaza Hotel, Regal Shoes Building }}
Notalbe Walker & Eisen designed buildings include:<ref name=pcadwalkereisen/><ref>{{cite book|last=Starr |first=Kevin |title=Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920s |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1991 |pages = 211–214 |isbn=9780195072600 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-xCsPyii2gC&pg=PA212}}</ref>
===Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District=== * Taft Building (1923),<ref name="HBCED">{{Cite web |title=Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/236d3254-47ee-4b31-9045-c2999cc465f2/ |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |date=April 4, 1985 |language=en-US}}</ref> LAHCM #666 * Hollywood Plaza Hotel (1924),<ref name="HBCED"/> LAHCM #665 * Regal Shoes Building (1939)<ref name="HBCED"/> ====Non-contributing==== * 6356 Hollywood Boulevard (1921)<ref name="HBCED"/>
===Broadway Theater and Commercial District=== {{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=260 | image1 = WurliTzer Building-1.jpg | image2 = United Artists Theater, Los Angeles.JPG | image3 = Platt Building-1 (cropped).jpg | image4 = Hartfield's (1931) 01.jpg | footer = Contributing properties in the Broadway Theater and Commercial District (clockwise from upper-left): Wurlitzer Building, United Artists Theatre, F. and W. Grand Silver Store Building, Platt Building, }}
* Apparel Center Building (1923)<ref name=BTCD>{{cite web|title=California SP Broadway Theater and Commercial District|publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858983|date=May 9, 1979}}</ref> * United Artists Theatre, with C. Howard Crane (1927),<ref name=BTCD/> LAHCM #523 * Platt Building (1927)<ref name=BTCD/> * F. and W. Grand Silver Store Building (1931)<ref name=BTCD/>
===Elsewhere in Los Angeles=== * Roosevelt Theater (1921)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Roosevelt Theatre, Los Angeles, CA |url=https://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/18765/|publisher=University of Washington Pacific Coast Architecture Database |accessdate=February 16, 2025 |first=Alan |last=Michelson |language=en-US}}</ref> * National City Bank of Los Angeles (1924), LAHCM #871<ref>{{cite news |title=Spring Street Housing Tower Sells for $43 Million |url= https://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/spring-street-housing-tower-sells-for-43-million/article_becddd1c-5589-11e4-913b-577b42b00c80.html |publisher=Los Angeles Downtown News |date=October 16, 2014}}</ref><ref name=rogerv>{{cite news |last1=Vincent |first1=Roger |title=Historic downtown Los Angeles high-rise sold to Canadian investors |url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-re-national-bank-building-sold-20141014-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=October 15, 2014}}</ref> * Hotel Normandie (1925), LAHCM #1013 [[File:Fine Arts Building of Los Angeles.png|thumb|Fine Arts Building]] * Fine Arts Building (1927), LAHCM #125 * James Oviatt Building (1927−1928), NRHP #83004529,<ref>{{cite web |title=James Oviatt Building |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/83004529 |date=August 11, 1983}}</ref> LAHCM #195 * Ambassador Hotel entrance pylons (1930) * Farmer's Insurance Company Office Building (1930) * Four Star Theatre (1931−1932, demolished 2015), with Clifford Balch * Sunkist Building (1935, demolished 1972)
===Elsewhere in California=== * Empire Theater, Long Beach (1922, demolished 1952) * Southern Counties Gas Company Building, Santa Ana (1923), NRHP #83001223<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/3ea0dda0-4dad-4a40-a9aa-5305b11e157f |title=Southern Counties Gas Co.|publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service|date=August 31, 1982}}</ref> * Breakers Hotel, Long Beach (1925) * El Cortez Hotel, San Diego (1926), NRHP #01001458<ref>{{cite web |title=El Cortez Apartment Hotel |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/01001458 |date=December 5, 2001}}</ref> * Beverly-Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills (1926−1928), NRHP #87000908<ref>{{cite web |title=Beverly Wilshire Hotel |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/87000908 |date=June 12, 1987}}</ref> * El Mirador Hotel, Palm Springs (1927−1928, demolished 1989) * Clock Tower Building, Santa Monica (1929−1930) * Upland City Hall and Police Station, Upland (1930) * Farmer's Insurance Company Headquarters (1937) * Torrance City Hall, Municipal Auditorium and Public Library<ref name=eval/> * San Luis Obispo County Court House<ref name=eval/> * Mar Monte Hotel, Santa Barbara<ref name=eval/> * Hilton Hotel, Long Beach<ref name=eval/>
====With Clifford Balch==== *United Artists Theaters **East Los Angeles, 1931<ref name=lapl>{{cite web |title=United Artists Theater, East Los Angeles |url=https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/39075/ |publisher=Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collections |access-date=June 13, 2025}}</ref> **Inglewood, 1931<ref name=lapl/> **Long Beach, 1931<ref name=lapl/> **Pasadena, 1931<ref name=lapl/> **Berkeley, 1932 **El Centro, 1932 **Los Angeles, 1932<ref name=eval>{{cite web |title=Historic Resource Assessment 5100-5114 Wilshire Boulevard |url=https://cdn2.larchmontbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Historic_Resource_Assessment_5100_Wilshire.pdf |publisher=Chattel, Inc. |date=May 30, 2013}}</ref> **Ventura, 1932
===Elsewhere=== * Valley National Bank Building, Tucson, Arizona (1929), NRHP #75608928<ref>{{cite web |title=Arizona MPS Valley National Bank Building |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75608928 |date=July 29, 2003}}</ref>
==In popular culture== Walker & Eisen are mentioned in the film ''(500) Days of Summer''.{{cn|date=August 2023}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [https://www.laconservancy.org/architects/walker-eisen Walker & Eisen architecture firm (1919−1941)] — firm's notable buildings with info + images. * [http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/firm/70/ Walker and Eisen, Architects] — list of firm's buildings and other works, links.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker and Eisen}} Category:Defunct architecture firms based in California Category:Architects from Los Angeles Category:Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles Category:1919 establishments in California Category:1941 disestablishments in California Category:Design companies established in 1919 Category:Design companies disestablished in 1941 Category:20th century in Los Angeles Category:Historicist architects Category:Theatre architects Category:20th-century American architects