James Shankland commissioned this residence in 1906 from Sumner Hunt, one of the founding figures of professional architecture in Los Angeles and a designer whose portfolio would eventually include the Southwest Museum and the Automobile Club of Southern California headquarters. The house rose on what would become known as Bankers Row, two doors from the home of Joseph F. Sartori of Security Trust & Savings Bank. While neighboring estates gradually converted to fraternity houses through the early twentieth century, this residence remained in private hands far longer than most, one of only two single-family homes still standing among 35 Greek letter dwellings by 1949.
The two-story wood-frame American Foursquare exhibits a symmetrical massing capped by a pyramidal roof with shallow boxed eaves and a large center dormer decorated with dentils and Corinthian pilasters. Concrete steps ascend to a dramatic front portico where two pairs of fluted Ionic columns support a shallow balconette with full entablature, while a similar portico centers the secondary east elevation, indicating the house was designed to command views from two directions. Narrow clapboard siding sheathes the structure above a brick foundation, and on the second story, pairs of one-over-one double-hung sash are capped by molded lintels with carved brackets, three of which are topped by decorative round-arched elements containing plaster floral patterns in relief. The glazed wooden entrance is flanked by sidelights, and the property retains its landscaping of grassy lawns, flowering shrubs, and mature trees.
