Irvine-Byrne Building
historic building in Los Angeles, California, United States
Irvine-Byrne Building, also known as Irvine Block, Byrne Building, Giant Penny Building, Pan American Building, and Pan American Lofts, is a historic five-story building located at 249-259 South Broadway, on the corner of Broadway and 3rd Street, in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles. It is the second-oldest commercial building in the historic core, after the Bradbury Building located at the same intersection and designed and built by the same individuals.
History
Irvine-Byrne Building, originally called Irvine Block, was designed by Sumner Hunt and built for Margaret Irvine of Irvine Ranch in 1894, with construction supervised by George Wyman. James W. Byrne, who had offices in the building since at least 1896, purchased the building in 1905 and subsequently changed its name to Byrne Building. Additional building tenants during its early years include McCormick-Henderson Company, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, Mount Lowe Springs Company, I. Magnin, at least one dentist, at least one real-estate agent, and numerous lawyers and architects. The Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles was also located in this building during World War II.
The building caught fire on February 16, 1911, after which Willis Polk led repairs and alterations.
Irvine-Byrne Building was not listed in the National Register of Historic Places's Broadway Theater and Commercial District when it was first created in 1979, but it was included when the district was expanded in 2002. The building was also listed as Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 544 in 1991.
The building's ground-floor housed a Giant Penny discount store from the 1980s to 2004, after which the building underwent a $20 million ($34.1 million in 2025) conversion to residential.
“Irvine-Byrne Building” enters the record as historic building in Los Angeles, California, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Irvine-Byrne, Building and historic can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Irvine-Byrne Building” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Irvine-Byrne, Building and historic provides the most credible route into that argument.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q131447873. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1894, 1896, 1905 and 1911.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Irvine-Byrne Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.