PLEASE SEE OUR COMPANION HISTORIES


  • Built in 1928 on Lot 23 of Tract 3446
  • Original commissioners: Mr. and Mrs. Richard Sidney Grant and their son Gerald Mitchell MacDonald Grant
  • Architect: Gerald M. M. Grant
  • A permit for a 13-room frame-and-brick-veneer house was issued by the Department of Building and Safety to "Mr. & Mrs. R. S. Grant and G. M. M. Grant," with the latter indicated as both architect and contractor, on May 29, 1928
  • Richard S. Grant arrived in Los Angeles from Ontario, Canada, with his wife Jane, their son Gerald, and three daughters by 1908, soon establishing the Beacon Lumber Company, of which he became president and general manager. Grant became a property developer through Beacon, in 1910 acquiring at least part of the Allandale Tract, which extends north from the northeast corner of Western Avenue and Beverly Boulevard (then Temple Street) to Maplewood Avenue. A previous owner of the land had been seeking oil on the property, but instead left an artesian well delivering copious amounts of warm, clear mineral water (the well still flows beneath 308 North Oxford Avenue, today the site of the Beverly Hot Springs day spa). Commencing to build houses on the well-watered tract, the Grants themselves would be occupying 323 North Oxford at the time the permit for 635 South Rossmore was issued in 1928. "Gerry" Grant and his father established Grant & Grant, manufacturers of piston rings, in 1922; Grant Piston Rings is still in business and has been a notable part of the California racecar and hotrod industry. Apparently an indefatigable jack of all trades, Gerry designed the house in Hancock Park; if not atypical of the many English brick residences in the neighborhood, its plan was more modern in that its garage was attached—it seems that car-crazy Gerry wanted to keep his vehicles all but inside the house 
  • Richard S. Grant died at the age of 75 on May 5, 1940, Jane Grant on April 22, 1947, age 81
  • On August 23, 1950, still living at 635 South Rossmore, Gerry Grant married, apparently for the first time; his bride was Mrs. Mary Maddox Stewart of Denver. He died at Hollywood Presbyterian on June 28, 1952
  • By the time of the issuance of the 1956 city directory in May, Gerald Grant's sister Harriett and her husband Paul Giddings were listed at 635 South Rossmore; their daughter Jane Carmichael was listed at 635 in 1964, after which time, and until at least 1972, the family rented the house
  • On May 14, 1972, an article appeared in the Los Angeles Times describing in detail Richard S. Grant's beginnings in real estate:




  • A letter written by Richard Grant's daughter Sidney Grant MacCoon, the mother of Grant MacCoon, in response to the article above appeared in the Times on May 21, 1972: 
Thank you for printing such a superb article about my father's artesian well.
Since you know that Richard Grant was a builder, I'd like you to know that the last home he built was at 635 S. Rossmore. His son, Gerald, was the architect.
It is, I believe, the most beautiful example of English architecture anywhere in the world. The proportions are perfection; the subtle curve of the stone arches of great beauty and the hand carved ridges in the stone arches spaced perfectly.
The bricks have copper in them which gives the color a soft richness. The chimney pots on the slate roof, too, were designed by an artist.
My father's home is still owned by the family but we have to rent it as the taxes on it are now $4,200 a year. Sad will be the day when it is removed for a commercial building!
Mrs. S. G. MacCoon
Los Angeles




Illustrations: Private Collection; LAT