PLEASE SEE OUR COMPANION HISTORIES


  • Built in 1924 on a parcel comprised of the northerly 60 feet of Lot 20 and the southerly 10 feet of Lot 19 of Tract 3446
  • Architect: John L. De Lario and Harbin F. Hunter
  • Original commissioner: Sidney Hawks Woodruff, a real estate operator, as his own home. Woodruff was at the time developing Hollywoodland, which he'd marked in the fall of 1923 with its famous lighted HOLLYWOODLAND sign. Permits issued by the Department of Buildings for the house and its garage indicate an initial address of 636 South Rossmore and that the nominal owner was Elmer Clark, who was in fact a bookkeeper for the Hollywoodland development; these documents were issued on June 26, 1924. Woodruff, who for some reason shied away from having his name on building permits, was employing John De Lario extensively for designs at Hollywoodland; in addition to his own home he'd had De Lario design his mother's house next door at 630 South Rossmore, completed just before 638, as was De Lario's design for 620 South Rossmore for Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Clarke on the north side of 630. Curiously, Sidney Woodruff's Western Construction Company is noted on building permits as the contractor for all three houses. The connection of Woodruff and Clarke is unclear, though Clarke, an oilman, may have been an investor in Woodruff's real estate ventures
  • Mrs. Woodruff's previous marriage to Edmond Bronson had ended in divorce; her daughter Alice Bronson's wedding took place on June 6, 1929, at St. James Episcopal, with a reception afterward at 638
  • Sidney and Olive Woodruff remained at 638 South Rossmore until 1955


Illustration: Private Collection