Cooper Arms

About this property

Cooper Arms Apartments is a registered historic building located on Ocean Boulevard in downtown Long Beach, California. The twelve-story Renaissance Revival apartment tower was built in 1923. It was one of the first structures to be designated a Long Beach Historical Landmark when the city launched its historic preservation program in 1980, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. It is currently operated as condominiums. Cooper Arms is a twelve-story steel-reinforced concrete building with exterior walls of brick finished with stucco. Located on Ocean Boulevard (at the corner of Linden Avenue) in the East Village near downtown Long Beach, the structure was designed by Los Angeles architects Curlett & Beelman. The design of the L-shaped apartment building has been described as Renaissance Revival and "Adam Revival" with neo-classical and neo-Egyptian ornamentation. Cooper Arms was originally developed as a housing cooperative with 159 apartments (and 406 rooms) which were offered for sale on "the own-your-own apartment plan," an idea that was promoted by Canadian born real estate developer Lionel Vincent Mayell (who also served as secretary of the Cooper Arms Building Company). With a construction budget of $1,350,000, the Cooper Arms was the most expensive development in Long Beach history to that time. The construction was handled by Scofield Engineering and Construction Company, the same company that built the Los Angeles Biltmore. Demand for the new apartments was brisk, and in the six months before construction began, more than $1,250,000 in apartments had already been sold. The building's 12th floor solarium and ballroom, occupying a major portion of the top floor, were among its most notable features. The ballroom included a domed ceiling and ornate moldings and lanterns. Another popular feature was the ground-level garden along Ocean Boulevard which opened onto a Spanish loggia extending through the structure to Linden Avenue. A promotional brochure published in 1922 noted that the Cooper Arms would have the latest amenities, including steam heating, high-speed elevators, "instantaneous hot water at all times," "Iceless Frigidors," "Disappearing beds," and "Dustless roller screens." The Cooper Arms property was developed by Larkin Cooper. It was built on a portion of Ocean Boulevard that had previously been "given over to fine homes." There were originally eight houses on the site, all owned by Cooper. Cooper came to Long Beach from Emporia, Kansas, where he had been in the feed and grain business. In April 1922, the Long Beach Daily Telegram announced the plan to build a luxury apartment building on the site. The planned development was billed as follows: "Long Beach to Have Finest Apartments in Whole Southland."

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Los Angeles County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Los Angeles County.

More historic places in California

Browse all historic places in California.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

California history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.