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  • Built in 1962 on Lot 202 in Tract 6388
  • Original commissioner: Buckingham Homes, an entity of builder and developer Frank Horny, intended to be Horny's own home
  • Architect: Wallace Neff
  • Lot 202 in Tract 6388 was originally part of the parcel comprised of Lots 201 and 202 on which Asa V. Call, an attorney and later the politically powerful president and then chairman of the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company, had built 500 South Hudson Avenue in 1925. Call's residence was sited on Lot 201 and remains standing there; his swimming pool and cabana, which had been built on Lot 202, were demolished by Frank Horny in 1962 to build 506 South Hudson and a new pool after the lots were separated. Horny's subdivisions were built primarily on former agricultural lands in the Valley. Per the Los Angeles Times of November 30, 1980, Horny was a "distinguished building executive and a noted Jewish community leader and philanthropist"; he was also on the boards of several educational institutions
  • On May 18, 1962, Frank Horny was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety for the demolition of the pool and cabana built by Asa Call in 1927 on Lot 202. On July 17, 1962, Horny was issued a permit for a one-story residence with attached garage on the lot; on July 16, 1963, Horny was issued a permit for a new 18-by-46-foot swimming pool at the rear of Lot 202
  • Frank Horny and his wife Hilda, both Czech-born, had arrived in New York in 1947, settling for the time being in Manhattan. (On the passenger manifest of the S.S. Veendam arriving in New York from Rotterdam, Frank Horny's first name is listed as "Frantisek" and his occupation is given as "rabbi.") By 1956 the Hornys were living just west of Hancock Park on South Mansfield Avenue; before long they had moved to 215 South Rossmore Avenue, from which they moved to 506 South Hudson Avenue once it was completed
  • Frank Horny was still the owner of 506 South Hudson Avenue when he died on December 17, 1988; Hilda died on August 9, 1989
  • Classified ads in the Times in the spring of 1991 touted "One of he most incredible homes in Hancock Park"—"extensive use of marble & mahogany." The asking price was $2,2000,000. By August, the price had come down to $1,950,000. The house may or may not have been sold; in any case, it was back on the market in December 1992. Wallace Neff's High Mausoleum style seems not to have had as much appeal as was thought in 1991. By September 1994, the house, called "the best buy in Hancock Park," was "priced to sell" at a mere $995,000
  • Owners after Frank Horny appear to have made few alterations to 506 South Hudson Avenue


Illustration: Private Collection