View Park Historic District
Located at the crest and northeastern slope of Baldwin Hills in unincorporated Los Angeles County, View Park is one of Los Angeles’ most strikingly beautiful and historically significant neighborhoods. With a development period spanning from 1928 to the 1970 under the Los Angeles Investment Company, the neighborhood boasts a wide range of pre- and post-war architectural styles.
Architectural Resources Group worked with the View Park Conservancy in preparation of a National Register of Historic Places historic district nomination. It was listed in the register on July 12, 2016.
Like many neighborhoods in Los Angeles and nationwide, View Park was originally developed exclusively for white homebuyers, and restrictive covenants kept the neighborhood homogenous. Even after racially restrictive housing policies were deemed unconstitutional in 1948, realtors and lenders used other tactics to keep View Park white. By the late 1950s, the first Black homebuyers bravely set down roots in the neighborhood and by the late 1960s View Park has transformed into the epicenter of Black wealth and culture, with prominent residents including doctors, lawyers, musicians and celebrities, including Tina Turner and Ray Charles.
View Park was listed in the National Register for its significant association with Black heritage in Los Angeles, and is one of the largest historic districts in the country with this distinction.
Prior to ARG’s work on the National Register nomination, graduate students from the University of Southern California’s Heritage Conservation program, in a class led by ARG Principal Katie Horak, conducted a historic resources survey of View Park. The students’ work laid important groundwork for the completion of the National Register nomination.
For the the View Park Historic District award page, please click HERE.
Photography by ARG, USC Digital Library, USC’s Spring 2014 Advanced Survey Documentation class and Pierre Galant Photography