dingy downtown Los Angeles building houses a tiled masterpiece

[Demovictory9]

more pics at the link

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-29/dutch-chocolate-shop-la-historic-cultural-monument

This 105-year-old restaurant is a secret, tiled masterpiece. And it’s up for sale

In a recent incarnation on a dingy block of 6th Street near Broadway, the chocolate-colored tile murals depicting idealized scenes of life in Holland were obscured by the plywood stalls of an arcade where shopkeepers sold socks, VHS tapes and other low-cost wares. The last occupant sold prepaid mobile phones.

Hidden from visitors was one of Pasadena artist Ernest Batchelder’s earliest commissions and one of the largest existing collections of his work. He created handmade tile murals of sailing ships, windmills and canals, of Dutch women in bonnets, knitting and carrying jugs; of Dutch men in ballooning trousers out with their oxen.

Batchelder decorated tiled pillars and groined arches in hues of rich caramel, butterscotch and chocolate brown that can appear medieval, and the room was recently used for a commercial for the computer game “World of Warcraft” intended to look like a feast in the Middle Ages.

“Everywhere you look, you just get lost in it,” Los Angeles historian and tour guide Kim Cooper said. “You learn more every time you see it.”

The chocolate shop was an early commission for Batchelder, who became widely known as a creator of artistic tiles that were affordable to people of modest means. According to architectural historian Robert Winter, hundreds of homes in Southern California and other parts of the country were endowed with Batchelder fireplaces and fountains.

[orleans]

1. paywall

but i love what i see. thanks.

[SunSeeker]

2. Wow. I've walked right by that. Who knew?

There are so many hidden treasures in downtown LA.

[Demovictory9]

4. yes. Huel Hauser would visit the inside of some those ugly beat down buildings. they were beautiful

on the inside. works of art.

[Karadeniz]

3. Stunning photos! A walk back in time....