Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles)
office building in Los Angeles, California, United States
Wurlitzer Building, also known as Apparel Center Building, Anjac Fashion Building, and Hudson Building, is a historic twelve-story highrise located at 814 S. Broadway in the Broadway Theater District in the historic core of downtown Los Angeles.
History
Wurlitzer Building, built in 1923, was designed by Walker & Eisen, the architecture firm responsible for several buildings on Broadway, including the Silverwood's and Platt buildings. This building, originally lofts on the top eight floors and offices for Wurlitzer below, was billed as "the world's largest music house" upon its completion. It cost $1 million ($18.9 million in 2025) and took six months to construct, and featured a concert hall that took up an entire floor. Hat and clothing manufacturers were also located in the building, and in the 1920s they caught fire several times, but since the building was made of concrete, the fires never spread beyond the floor they started on.
The building was bought by Jack Needleman in 1962 and when he died in 1999, his son embarked on a multi-million dollar restoration. In 2002, the building completed a $2.47 million ($4.42 million in 2025) historic preservation project, and in 2007, the building was power-washed to remove grime and expose its intricate ornamentation and designs. In 2014, the building was awarded $20,788 ($28,272 in 2025) through the Bringing Back Broadway initiative to upgrade its column accent lighting.
In 1979, the Broadway Theater and Commercial District was added to the National Register of Historic Places, with this building listed as a contributing property in the district.
Architecture and design
Wurlitzer Building is made of reinforced concrete and brick with a multi-colored terra cotta facade and features a Spanish Renaissance design with decorative cornice, arched windows, and bas relief.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles)” as office building in Los Angeles, California, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as office building in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q131400172. Authority coordinates are 34.043, -118.255. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1923, 2025, 1962 and 1999.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. 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.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles) primary sources, Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles) archive and Wurlitzer research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles)”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wurlitzer Building (Los Angeles)” 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.