Haas Building (Los Angeles)
Haas Building, also known as the Broadway Exchange Building, is a historic twelve-story building located at 219 West 7th Street and 660 South Broadway, in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of Downtown Los Angeles. It was originally owned by Abraham Haas and was completed in 1915.
History
Hass Building was designed by Morgan Walls & Morgan for Abraham Haas and was built in 1915.The building was modernized in 1974, and in 1979, when the Broadway Theater and Commercial District was added to the National Register of Historic Places, Hass Building was listed as a non-contributing property in the district.
In 2009, Haas Building was converted into 68 apartment units, including a rooftop penthouse. The building houses the Haas Trademark Collection by Wyndham as of 2024.
Tenants
Haas Building was considered "an excellent place to diagnose financial conditions in and around Los Angeles" due to the numer of realty buyers, sellers, leasers, and lessees that occupied the building in its early years. In 1915, Bank of Italy secured a 25-year lease for the building's ground floor and the basement. W J Pearson & Co. also occupied a large part of the 3rd floor.Other major occupants of the Haas Building over the years include:
- Southern California Tourist Bureau
- Lee H. Stodder Company – exclusive selling agent for Burkhard Investment Company
- Southern California Oil Co.
- Ku Klux Klan – The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan held an office in the building in the early 1920s, but their lease was not renewed after the District Attorney raided the building, seizing two carloads of records.
- Chicago Tribune - Opened a branch office, hoping to attract California advertisers to the midwestern paper.
- Jewish Community Center-Chabad of Downtown Los Angeles
Architecture and design
The building's corridors were floored with marble and seven-foot wainscoting, while the lobby's floors, walls, and ceiling were marble and the interior woodwork was made of solid mahogany. The building's fixtures and interiors, including three high-speed elevators, cost $100,000.
The building was modernized in the 1970s, with the classic exterior replaced by a metal skin. Despite this, a small portion of the original terra cotta is still visible on the 7th Street facade.