Bradbury Building in Los Angeles

George H. Wyman
304, South Broadway. Los Angeles. USA, 1897

View of the skylight in the central atrium of the Bradbury Building. Photos: Julius Shulman

One of the most striking scenes of the film Blade Runner is one in which the replicant leader will visit your creator in your own home. This resides on the top floor of a Victorian building that presents decrepit and immersed in darkness threatening. It is the Bradbury Building, one of the most famous historic structures preserved in the center of the Californian city of Los Angeles.

Interior of the building in the movie Blade Runner. Ridley Scott, 1982

El Bradbury Building se sitúa en el 304 de South Broadway. in downtown Los Angeles and is one of the few examples of pre-twentieth century architecture which is world renowned in the city. This is because of the influence that Hollywood film culture has developed since the rest of the world. A prime tourist landmark that come to see the spectacular courtyard, bathed in light from above that gives a particular atmosphere.

In a city where almost everything is very recent, this piece of architecture has withstood the passage of time since his construction in the late nineteenth. It would be a project of the California architect George H. Wyman would assume the order to realize the idea of mining entrepreneur and real estate developer, Lewis Bradbury. His charismatic interior space is divided with a large atrium five stories high under a glass roof which lifts inserts two mechanisms symmetrical ladder sight and front iron railings watermarked. Around the functional spaces are organized connected by corridors around the perimeter of the yard. Locksmith parts are casting a magnificent job would be done in France and would be used for the Chicago World's Fair 1893 and promoter after purchase.

This amazing display of style would discover historian Esther McCoy 1953 as an interesting piece of architectural heritage of the city that should be protected. Today is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, being completely restored in 1990. Now, houses the offices of the famous LAPD Internal Affairs (Police Department Los Angeles). Kenneth Framptom it would outline in his book Modern Architecture 1851-1945 saying that:

The Bradbury Building is unique not only for its spectacular staircase projected, but also for its glazed hydraulic lifts that give access to the different floors of offices. These structures serve to encourage movement through the section of the volume; composed visual effect of the light filtering through the landing of the stairs and the oscillation of the elevator cabs. By way of contrast, Outside the building is traditional, is constructed with a mixture of sandstone and brick lining.

But this charismatic building has been a recurring scenario for multiple Hollywood films throughout the twentieth century. Several directors have used this photogenic place to generate exoticism, mystery and the glamor as appropriate to the stories of gangsters and murder. Its central atrium recognizable background has served many films, since it will be used 1942 in Henry Hathaway's film, China Girl (Hell on Earth), to represent the space of the Hotel Royal in Mandalay, Burma. Above 10 later films have used their spaces to represent scenarios of the respective frames. Since that starred Jack Nicholson in the movie The Wolf(The Wolf, 1994).

The Bradbury Building, scene of Los Angeles. Excerpt from the film THE Thom Anderson plays itself, VIMEO