The Street Seen: The House That Merle Built
2523 3rd Street @ Ocean Park
The landmarked Merle Norman House is for sale - again. The large, 2 story house built in 1936 for Merle Nethercutt Norman, was the principal residence of the cosmetics entrepreneur from 1936 to 1955.
Merle (1887-1972) and her husband Andy (1882-1959) arrived in Ocean Park in 1919 and purchased the 2523 3rd Street property in 1921.
Merle Norman developed her cosmetic formulas in the kitchen of the 1904 cottage on the property. In 1935, to make way for the new residence, the cottage was moved to 740 Raymond Avenue (and occupied by Merle Norman’s Nethercutt relatives).
The first Merle Norman Cosmetics Studio opened across the street at Ocean Park Blvd and 3rd St in 1931. By 1934, there are 94 Merle Norman Cosmetics Studios (franchises).
Unlike its older Victorian and Craftsman neighbors, the 1936 Spanish Eclectic / Mediterranean Revival style house features multiple red tile, gabled roofs with exposed rafter eaves and a stucco exterior.
At the front of the house, a sweeping staircase leads to a large living room. Among the living spaces are a dining room, a den, a library/study, a breakfast room, four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There's a courtyard that is entered through the porte cochere. The attached guesthouse at the rear contains a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom.
So who designed the residence ? The 1935 building permit does not list an architect. Some references have Ellis G. Martin as the architect (perhaps confusing him with Emmett G. Martin (1889-1937) - who we know as the architect of the McGinley Estate). But Ellis Gilliam Martin (1891 -1962) was the building contractor.
Then was it H. G. Thursby, who during the same time frame, was designing a Streamline Moderne remodel of the nearby Merle Norman Cosmetics Building at 2525 Main St ? Thursby only obtained a California license to practice architecture in October 1936.
Was it Merle’s older brother Glenn Thaddeus Nethercutt (1895 - 1968), an architect who joined Merle Norman Cosmetics in 1934 ? Or was Merle Norman herself mostly responsible for the unique design of the residence? We don’t know.
In 1952, Merle Norman Cosmetics moved from 2525 Main Street to new facilities in Westchester and in 1955, Merle Norman sold the 2523 3rd Street property.