Chateau Marmont

Built in 1929, Chateau Marmont was the visionary project of attorney Fred Horowitz, who was inspired by a trip to Europe where he photographed the Gothic Château d'Amboise in France's Loire Valley, where Leonardo da Vinci is buried. Returning to California with architectural photos, Horowitz commissioned his brother-in-law, European-trained architect Arnold A. Weitzman, along with William Douglas Lee, to design a seven-story, L-shaped apartment building. The building was named after the small street running in front of the property, rejecting earlier suggestions of 'Chateau Sunset' and 'Chateau Hollywood.' Originally intended as luxury apartments, the Great Depression forced Horowitz to sell to Albert E. Smith, co-founder of Vitagraph Studios, for $750,000 in 1931, who converted it into a hotel to capitalize on visitors to the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Chateau Marmont is a masterpiece of earthquake-proof construction, built with reinforced concrete and steel that has survived major earthquakes in 1933, 1952, 1971, 1987, and 1994 without structural damage. The French Gothic-inspired design features an L-shaped seven-story structure topped with a turret and steeply-pitched slate roof, complete with Gothic details including vaulted ceilings, hand-painted murals, and stained glass throughout the interior. The ascending roofline was deliberately designed to echo the Hollywood Hills ridgeline. The complex includes 63 accommodations total: rooms, suites, cottages, and four bungalows, with two of the bungalows designed by renowned modernist architect Craig Ellwood in 1956. Nine Spanish cottages and a swimming pool were added in the 1930s and acquired by the hotel in the 1940s. The property features an eclectic interior aesthetic established by manager Ann Little, who decorated with pieces from Depression-era estate sales, creating the hotel's signature bohemian-luxe atmosphere.