Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home, Historic apartment building in Westlake, Los Angeles, US.

The Mary Andrews Clark Memorial Home is a four-story brick building of 76,000 square feet in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, built around a courtyard on Crown Hill. Architect Arthur Burnett Benton gave it a French Revival Chateauesque form with many gables, cupolas, turrets and balconies, faced in pressed brick under a tile or slate roof. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

William A. Clark, a Montana copper magnate and former U.S. senator, built the home as a memorial to his mother, Mary Andrews Clark, who died in Los Angeles in 1904. He announced the gift in 1910 and dedicated the building in February 1913. The YWCA ran it until the Whittier Narrows earthquake forced closure in 1987; it reopened in 1995 as housing for low-income single workers.

Residents paid about $5.05 a week in 1914 for a room, two meals daily (three on Sundays and holidays), and free use of laundry and sewing machines. The house offered a literary club, Bible study, a library, dancing, tennis courts, bowling lanes and a gymnasium. In 1963 the Times noted that women still dined by candlelight twice weekly, and slacks and curlers were barred at dinner.

The building serves residents seeking affordable housing and is accessible through the main entrance in the neighborhood. You can view the exterior architecture best during daytime hours when the full facade and details are clearly visible.

The building was originally designed as a YWCA residence specifically for working women, making it a landmark of female independence and support. This transformation from exclusive to universal housing use reflects the ongoing adaptation of its physical spaces and community purpose.