Turquoise terra-cotta and gold leaf, crowned by a four-sided clock that reads “Eastern.” This is the most photographed Art Deco tower in downtown Los Angeles.
At a glance
The Eastern Columbia Building is a 1930 Art Deco landmark on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, designed by the architect Claud Beelman. Sheathed in glossy turquoise terra-cotta with deep blue and gold trim, it was built as headquarters and store for the Eastern Outfitting Company and the Columbia Outfitting Company. Its stepped clock tower, marked with the word “Eastern,” remains one of the city’s defining skyline features. Long an office and retail block, it was converted into luxury lofts in the 2000s.
Key facts
- Architect: Claud Beelman
- Completed: 1930
- Cladding: turquoise terra-cotta with gold-leaf detail
- Original use: department store and offices
- Status: Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument; converted to residential lofts
History
The building was commissioned by Adolph Sieroty and family to house two clothing and furniture firms, and it opened in 1930 at the height of the Broadway commercial district’s prosperity. A municipal height limit of the time capped most of downtown, but the clock tower was allowed to rise above as an ornamental feature.
As retail drifted away from Broadway in the later twentieth century, the building’s upper floors emptied. In the 2000s it was restored and converted into condominiums, part of a wider revival of downtown Los Angeles, and its terra-cotta skin was cleaned back to its original colour.
What you see
The tower steps back as it rises, each setback edged with vertical lines that pull the eye upward to the clock and the “Eastern” sign. The colour is the shock: a saturated copper-blue glaze across the whole facade, unusual for a building of this size.
Geometric sunbursts, zigzags and stylised figures cluster around the entrance and parapet, the full Art Deco vocabulary rendered in moulded clay. At street level the original store windows survive beneath the ornamental bronze and tile.
Practical information
- Function: private residential lofts; admired from the street
- Setting: Broadway and 9th Street, downtown Los Angeles
- Time needed: 20–30 minutes for the exterior
Getting there
The building is in downtown Los Angeles at 849 South Broadway. The Metro rail stops at Pershing Square and 7th Street/Metro Center are within walking distance, and the historic Broadway theatre district is right alongside.
Nearby
- Broadway Theater District and the Bradbury Building
- Bullocks Wilshire and the Wiltern Theatre, west along Wilshire Boulevard
- Los Angeles — Eames, Schindler, Neutra and the California Case Study (CHO city guide)
Sources
- Los Angeles Conservancy, Eastern Columbia Building (laconservancy.org)
- City of Los Angeles, Historic-Cultural Monuments register
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Art Deco”
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See this place and what’s around it →Record researched and written by Luigi De Marchi for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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