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  • Built in 1926 on Lot 11 in Tract 5640
  • Original commissioner: banker, furniture-store executive, and developer Henry Stewart McKee
  • Architect: Albert McNeal Swasey. Known as McNeal Swasey, his residential projects appear to have been rare. He was the son of St. Louis architect W. Albert Swasey; after Yale, he came west to serve architect Myron Hunt as project manager on the Ambassador Hotel, which opened on January 1, 1921. Swasey then carried on practices in Los Angeles and in Bakersfield. He died in 1946
  • On August 9, 1926, the Department of Building and Safety issued permits to Henry S. McKee for a 12-room residence and a one-story, 37-by-21-foot garage at 434 Rimpau Boulevard
  • Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on October 9, 1868, Henry S. McKee arrived in Los Angeles in 1893 to work on the expansion of the Los Angeles Terminal Railway. Nose ever to the grindstone, seemingly never stopping to play a round of golf or otherwise indulge in pleasure—although there would be a weekend house in Montecito—McKee was an investment banker who was, according to ecomiums during his life and after his death, was as much of a Southern California builder as, say, Henry Huntington though more self-effacing. Early on he doggedly developed railroads and public utilities as well as his own investment interests and still found time to head banks, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Community Development Association, which among other endeavors, built the Coliseum. He was, unsurprisingly, active in Republican politics. In 1923 McKee took on yet another job, becoming president of Barker Bros., charged with reorganizing the venerable Los Angeles furniture concern. During his five-year tenure, Barker Bros. opened its enormous building on Seventh Street, which stretches a full block between Figueroa and Flower streets. McKee did find time to marry, in October 1898 traveling all the way to Saginaw for his wedding to Miss Ethel Hay of that city. Henry Stewart McKee was born 13 months later on November 4. Donald Hay McKee arrived on November 19, 1902, at which time the family was living at 1101 West 29th Street. The McKees lived in Monrovia from 1905 to 1912, returning to the city to live in rented houses in University Park, first at 718 West Adams and then at 2626 Portland Street. From 1922 the family was at 32 St. James Park before building 434 Rimpau Boulevard
  • Henry McKee hired McNeal Swasey to design a rear addition to 434 Rimpau Boulevard in 1928. On June 22 of that year, the Department of Building and Safety issued H. S. McKee a permit to add a "screened-in conservatory" in place of a rear terrace and for a concrete fountain in the back yard. Eight years later, an 8-by-10-foot room extension at the northeast corner of the house was built, a permit for this work being issued on October 13, 1936. On January 9, 1939, McKee was issued a permit to add a 20-by-40-foot wing to the rear of 434. While no architect is cited on the 1936 and 1939 documents, contractor George M. Holstein is noted on both, his family firm having been the builder of the original house and of the conservatory addition. On April 22, 1940, Henry McKee was issued a permit for a second rear addition, this one measuring 17 by 20 feet; neither Holstein or Swasey appear to have been associated with this project
  • Henry and Ethel McKee's younger son Donald and his family moved into 345 South June Street nearby in the summer of 1938
  • The McKee's son Stewart, who had never married and had thus retained his membership in the exclusive Bachelors club, died in his sleep in his room at the California Club on May 10, 1950; he was 50. The McKees were still living at 434 Rimpau Boulevard when Ethel died on March 4, 1953, a few weeks shy of her 75th birthday. Henry McKee put 434 on the market soon after and moved to the California Club. He died of cancer at Good Samaritan Hospital on November 19, 1956, and was eulogized widely


In addition to his extensive obituary in the Times on November 20, 1956, Henry McKee was the
subject of an editorial in the paper the next day, as seen above. He died as the freeway era
was beginning, but the age of the men who built modern Los Angeles was passing.


  • Dr. and Mrs. Donald Oscar Lagerlof succeeded the McKees at 434 Rimpau Boulevard. Dr. Lagerlof was a surgeon trained at U.S.C. who was the Medical Director of the Times Mirror Company and served as the Union Pacific's chief surgeon. Mrs. Lagerlof, née Vivian Harth, was a tireless socialite, much mentioned in the Times over the years for organizing charity balls. Her special interest was in the Lifelighters—a ladies' philanthropic organization—and its elaborate annual Ruby Ball, which raised funds for the Exceptional Childrens' Foundation
  • On January 11, 1954, the Department of Building and Safety issued a permit to Dr. D. Lagerlof for a kitchen remodeling; interestingly, George M. Holstein & Sons, family members of which had built the house in 1926 and carried out the subsequent additions noted above, was the contractor. Per a permit issued on April 11, 1956, the Lagerlofs hired Beverly Hills architect Stephen Stepanian to add a large bay window to the south wall of the 1939 addition. The Lagerlofs remained at 434 Rimpau until at least 1975; that year, per a permit issued on September 25, they remodeled a bathroom
  • One source has it that "Jane and Pat Collee" became the third owners of 434 Rimpau Boulevard and that they "extensively remodeled its interior and exterior." No building permits, however, seem to have been issued for 434 between 1975 or soon after, when the Lagerlofs appear to have left the house, and 1981, when the next owners purchased it. Could "Pat Collee" be a reference to prolific hotel developer Pat Colee? Rather than being named Jane, his wife was Diane, née Frame, whose family had lived in Hancock Park at 158 North June Street
  • Tom and Carolyn Hutchison bought 434 Rimpau Boulevard in 1981. On August 13, 1982, Hutchison was issued a permit by the Department of Building and Safety to add an 8-by-12-foot spa to the back yard. On April 22, 1985, a permit was issued for a 17-by-34-foot pool on the property, although, confusingly, to a party named Hennigan
  • The owner of 434 Rimpau Boulevard since at least 1995 has made significant alterations to the property. In 2008 a large two-story addition was made to the rear of the house, placed between and attached to the 1939 and 1940 wings. Also in 2008, the 1926 one-story garage was demolished and replaced with a two-story garage with a recreation room above
  • 434 South Rimpau Boulevard was placed on the market in July 2024 at an asking price of $9.434,000; the figure seems somewhat of an arbitrary one based on the address


    Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT