The Street Seen: 215 Pacific St (Christie Court)
215 Pacific Street @ Neilson Way
Christie Court at 125 Pacific St is a dense 24-unit apartment court built in 1924. Although extensively altered and stripped of much of its architectural decoration, it is designated a city landmark in 2004. On appeal in 2005, the City Council voids the landmark. Christie Court is demolished in 2009 and replaced by a condominium project.
Christie Court1 is located at 125 Pacific St on the prominent northwest corner of Neilson Way.
Sorenson
The 3-building Mission Revival style Christie Court is designed and built in 1924 by Santa Monica general contractors Dick and Taylor2 for a North Dakota recent arrival, Hans Sorenson.3
Dick and Taylor get the contract on February 28 and expect to have the buildings ready for occupancy on April 15 (the first rental advertisement appears May 16, 1924).
The property4 consists of two identical one-story structures plus a single two-story building configured in a “U” pattern around a narrow central courtyard.
The three rectangular, stucco-on-wood-frame buildings have flat roofs with the parapets highlighted with an edge of red clay tile. Each building has 8 units (24 units total). The courtyard primary entrance faces south onto Pacific St. There are service doors in the rear of each unit.
The property is directly adjacent to the Pacific Electric right-of-way on Neilson Way. As is typical of Ocean Park apartment courts, no on-site parking is provided.
The 24-unit Christie Court is crammed onto the small lot with either no or small side and street setbacks.5
Landmark
In 2004, the owner of the rent-controlled apartment property, intending to evict (Ellis) the tenants and construct a condominium project on the site, files for a demolition permit. Tenants and neighbors seek to prevent the demolition by designating the bungalow court as a city landmark. Although the property is extensively altered and stripped of much of its architectural decoration, it is designated a city landmark in 2004. On appeal in 2005, the City Council voids the landmark designation.
Demolition
Vacant and boarded up for 4 years, Christie Court is demolished in 2009, and replaced in 2012 by nine 2-story townhomes.6
Maybe the name “Christie Court” is a reference to his mother, Christina Sorenson (1840 - 1919), or his daughter Elizabeth Christine Sorenson (1911 - 1991). In 1958, Christie Court goes by the name Shoreway Apartments.
From 1922 to 1925, Santa Monica contractor Dick and Taylor (Alex Dick (1885 – 1937) and Homer B. Taylor (1895 - 1935)) builds about 150 homes and buildings in West Los Angeles. Intending to engage in real estate development, Dick and Taylor incorporates in February 1925, but in August 1925, the two partners go their separate ways.
In 1898, Hans Sorenson (1870 - 1938) marries Ethel Lynn Ball (1871 - 1957). Sorenson is a grain elevator operator in Minneapolis, MN, and Fargo, ND. He is a member of the Minneapolis grain exchange from 1913 to 1922. In 1922, Sorenson (age 53) comes to Los Angeles. In 1924, Dick and Taylor builds a 9-room residence in Brentwood Park for Sorenson. In 1925, Sorenson is listed as a tenant of Christie Court (although the units seem too small for a family). In 1925, the Sorensons and their 14-year old daughter Elizabeth move back to Fargo, ND, to a 1,120-acre farm he buys for $84,000. In 1929, the Sorensons return to Minneapolis, where he engages in real estate investment.
The 90-ft by 150-ft Christie Court property is the southwest 30-ft of Lot 11 and all of Lot 12 of Block 3 of the South Santa Monica Tract of 1875.
Sorenson intends Christie Court to be higher-grade apartments finished in a most modern and up-to-date manner. Each apartment consists of a living room, bedroom, bath, and kitchen with breakfast nook. Hardwood floors, tiled baths, and living rooms with a mahogany finish and Tiffany-blended walls and ceilings. Each unit is equipped with a radio, a first for a Santa Monica residential development.
The 120-ft by 150-ft condominium property consists of the Christie Court property plus the 30-ft wide asphalt parking lot on the east side of Christie Court along Neilson Way.