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  • Built in 1925 on Lot 5 in Tract 3819
  • Original commissioner: automobile man Lloyd K. Hillman
  • Architect/contractor: Curiously, the lines reserved for the name of the architect on the two original building permits for 344 Muirfield Road appear to have been filled in and then deleted if they weren't originally left blank; indicated as contractor for the residence and garage is William H. Bloeser
  • On March 30, 1925, the Department of Buildings issued Lloyd K. Hillman permits for a two-story, 10-room residence and a one-story, 20-by-35-foot garage
  • Lloyd Kenneth Hillman, born in South Dakota on August 28, 1889, was running a garage on Flower Street during the 1910s, at first working for Rand & Chandler, which sold the super-luxury Rhode Island–built ALCO car built by the American Locomotive Company. Rand & Chandler was run by Ralph Chandler, a nephew of the Los Angeles Times's Harry Chandler, and his friend Charles Wellington Rand of 2619 Wilshire Boulevard; the two men were close enough that Chandler lived at that address with Rand and his mother. After production of the ALCO ceased in 1913, Rand & Chandler's operation became the Flower Street Garage, which, apparently as a result of Rand's suicide in 1917, Hillman took over. The business remained at 526 South Flower until 1926 when Hillman moved his automotive interests across the street to 507, where he dealt in Hudsons, Essexes, Maxwells, and Chryslers. In later years, he and his sons Le Roy and Robert operated California Rent Car at 507, which in 1957 became a franchisee of National Car Rental




Lloyd Hillman's 1925 house at 344 Muirfield Road appears
little changed since the images above and below were taken in
1936. Many Los Angeles architects and their draftsmen turned out
variations on English Revival styles, popular during the 1920s for
their distinct sense of permanence as developers carved new
subdivisions such as Hancock Park out of barley fields.



  • Hillman married Doris Mae Anundson, another native South Dakotan, in Los Angeles on January 1, 1912, and moved into a new Craftsman house at 2212 Fifth Avenue a few months later. Their first son, Lloyd Jr., died on June 12, 1915, just shy of his second birthday; Le Roy Dean Hillman was born on December 14, 1918, his brother Robert Lloyd Hillman on October 23, 1920
  • Doris Hillman was featured in the press at least twice for her angling skills. In August 1927 off Catalina, she hooked a 124½-pound tuna. In June 1932, she brought a 366-pound marlin to gaff; the Times of July 1, describing Mrs. Hillman as a "petite young Los Angeles society woman," noted that "the fish exceeds Mrs. Hillman's own weight of 109 pounds more than three times."
  • Doris Hillman died at 344 Muirfield Road on December 28, 1933, at the age of 43, details of her death, or lack thereof, perhaps suggesting suicide


As seen in the Los Angeles Times on July 7, 1936


  • A large picture of Lloyd K. Hillman and his new wife, a 33-year-old Oklahoma native named Lenore, appeared in the Times on July 7, 1936, following "their marriage in San Francisco last week." The second Mrs. Hillman moved into 344 Muirfield Road with her husband and his son Robert
  • The Hillmans were still listed at 344 Muirfield Road in the Los Angeles city directory issued in 1942 and are there in the Federal census enumerated in April 1950; thereafter, their address becomes hard to trace, although in 1960 Lloyd Hillman is still listed alongside his sons at his 507 South Flower Street business address of over 30 years
  • Curiously, a listing for 344 Muirfield does not appear in city directories from at least 1956 until at least 1973, or in the 1987 issue; the owner as of 2019 appears to have been in possession since 1980


Illustrations: Private Collection; UCLA Library; LAT