Villa Riviera
A Gothic-crowned residential tower rising directly from the Long Beach shoreline, the Villa Riviera was the most ambitious apartment building on the Southern California coast when it opened in 1929.
At a glance
The Villa Riviera at 800 East Ocean Boulevard stands sixteen stories above the Pacific shoreline in Long Beach, a copper-roofed landmark whose Gothic-inflected Art Deco silhouette has defined the city’s oceanfront for nearly a century. When it was completed in 1929, it was one of the tallest buildings in Southern California outside of Los Angeles proper and the most luxurious oceanfront residential address on the coast. Today it operates as a condominium building and retains its status as a California Historic Landmark.
Key facts
- Address: 800 East Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach, California
- Completed: 1929
- Style: Art Deco with Gothic Revival elements
- Height: 16 stories
- Use: Originally luxury apartments; now condominiums
- Distinctive feature: Copper-clad Gothic turret and copper-green roof visible from the ocean
- Status: California Historical Landmark; National Register of Historic Places
History
Long Beach in the late 1920s was riding a dual boom: the discovery of oil in the Signal Hill fields had generated sudden wealth, and the city’s ambition to become the premier resort and residential destination of Southern California was given physical form in a series of ambitious construction projects along Ocean Boulevard. The Villa Riviera was the crown of this effort — a statement that Long Beach could offer a standard of oceanfront luxury equal to anything on the East Coast.
The building was constructed on the beachfront to take maximum advantage of Pacific views, with the majority of units oriented toward the ocean. The copper-covered Gothic turret at one corner became the building’s signature, a reference to the châteaux of the French Riviera that gave the building its name. The comparison was deliberate: Long Beach promoted itself as a Mediterranean-climate alternative to the aristocratic leisure of the original Riviera, and the Villa’s architecture played directly into that narrative.
The 1933 Long Beach earthquake severely damaged much of the city, but the Villa Riviera survived with limited structural damage, partly because its concrete frame had been engineered with an unusual degree of care for its period. This survival while other landmarks fell only reinforced its status as an enduring symbol of Long Beach’s aspirations. It was converted to condominiums in the late twentieth century and designated a California Historical Landmark.
What you see
Approaching from Ocean Boulevard, the Villa Riviera rises with the verticality of a Gothic revival tower while its surface ornament remains distinctly Art Deco: geometric banding, stylized floral reliefs, and terra-cotta panels in patterns drawn from the machine-age vocabulary of the late 1920s. The copper roof has weathered to the characteristic verdigris green that makes it visible from far out to sea. At one corner, the turret rises above the main roofline in a gesture borrowed from French Renaissance châteaux, though here rendered in materials and ornamental detail that are entirely of their American moment.
The lobby interior, accessible to residents and their guests, features original Art Deco metalwork, decorative plasterwork, and tile. The proportions of the entry sequence — from the street-level portal through the lobby to the elevator hall — were designed to convey a sense of arrival appropriate to one of the most prestigious addresses on the California coast. At the upper floors, the ocean-facing terraces offer uninterrupted views from Catalina Island to the Long Beach harbor.
Practical information
- Access: Private residential building; exterior and grounds publicly visible from Ocean Boulevard
- Best view: From the beach directly in front, or from the Ocean Boulevard walkway
- Photography: Late afternoon light illuminates the western faces; morning fog often softens the ocean approach
- Surrounding area: Downtown Long Beach and the Aquarium of the Pacific are within walking distance along the waterfront
Getting there
The Villa Riviera is located at the eastern end of downtown Long Beach’s Ocean Boulevard waterfront, about one mile east of the Aquarium of the Pacific. From downtown Los Angeles, take the Metro Blue Line (A Line) to the Downtown Long Beach station, then a short ride via bus or rideshare along Ocean Boulevard. Long Beach Airport (LGB) is approximately five miles northeast. Parking is available along Ocean Boulevard and in the adjacent Shoreline Village area.
Nearby
- Aquarium of the Pacific — marine science center on Rainbow Harbor
- RMS Queen Mary — historic ocean liner moored at Long Beach harbor
- Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) — contemporary art in a restored 1920s building
Sources
- California Office of Historic Preservation — California Historical Landmarks database
- National Register of Historic Places — Villa Riviera nomination
- Wikipedia: Villa Riviera
- Wikimedia Commons: File:Villa_Riviera.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Diventa un fotografo di Cultural Heritage Online
Condividi le tue foto dei luoghi: restano pubblicate con la tua firma come autore. Più vengono viste, più ti fai conoscere — e presto un concorso premierà le foto più apprezzate.
Accedi o registrati gratis per aggiungere una foto