South Bonnie Brae Tract Historic District, Victorian residential district in Pico-Union, Los Angeles, United States.
South Bonnie Brae Tract Historic District is a group of Victorian houses on the 1000 block of South Bonnie Brae Street and the 1800 block of West 11th Street in the Pico Union section of Los Angeles. Its fifteen contributing buildings date to the 1890s and mix Queen Anne and Colonial Revival architecture, standing on 3.2 acres.
The district took shape in the 1890s as Los Angeles expanded rapidly and wealthy families sought new residential areas. The National Register of Historic Places added it in 1988 to protect this important group of late-19th-century houses.
The Victorian houses display detailed wooden ornaments and uneven facades that show how affluent residents of the 1890s wanted their homes to look. These decorations were a sign of taste and financial success in the expanding city at that time.
The district sits in Pico-Union and spans several connected blocks that are easy to explore on foot. Visitors can view the houses from the street and enjoy the architectural details from outside.
The Athletic Model Guild, a pioneering physique photography studio, operated at the corner of 11th and Bonnie Brae Streets within the district. Its presence in this residential block is an easily missed detail of the area's 20th-century history.
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