James Oviatt Building, Art Deco skyscraper in Downtown Los Angeles, United States.

The James Oviatt Building is a 13-story Art Deco highrise at 617 S. Olive Street in Downtown Los Angeles, designed by Walker & Eisen and completed in May 1928. Its light-grey stone facade rises to a narrow upper tower with a peaked roofline and two flags; below, rows of rectangular windows run down the main body, a faded painted sign covers part of the wall, and dark metal fire escapes hang on the lower left. René Lalique made the molded glass elevator door panels, front and side doors, chandeliers and a large panel clock, and a 12-ton illuminated glass cornice and glass arcade ceiling came from Ferdinand Chanut and Gaëtan Jeannin.

Completed in 1928 by architects Walker & Eisen, it originally served as headquarters for Alexander & Oviatt, a men's haberdashery business. The company closed in 1966, but the structure remained as a landmark of the Art Deco era.

The building is named after James Zera Oviatt, the haberdasher who commissioned it after finding French Art Deco on his summer buying trips to Europe. Its lobby and upper floors held René Lalique molded-glass elevator panels, doors, chandeliers and a large panel clock, plus a 12-ton illuminated glass cornice and glass arcade ceiling by Ferdinand Chanut and Gaëtan Jeannin. Much of the decoration has since been removed.

The Oviatt Building stands at 617 S. Olive Street, half a block south of 6th Street and Pershing Square. Its ground floor holds the Cicada Restaurant and Lounge, and the upper floors are occupied by law firms, financial companies and other commercial tenants. Visitors can view the grey stone facade and the painted wall sign from the street and the plaza outside the parking lot on its western side.

The 13-story height and 49.38-metre figure come from the Spanish-language source; the tower carries a massive three-faced clock with chimes made by the electric clockmaker Ateliers Brillié Frères and imported from France, along with many tons of 'Napoleon' marble. Much of the original decoration has since been removed.