USC Community House
Top photo: The house at its original location near the corner of 18th and Figueroa streets, circa 1900 (courtesy of USC Libraries Special Collections, Title Insurance and Trust/C. C. Pierce Photography Collection, 1860-1960)
Bottom photo: USC Community House today
Community House is widely believed to be the sixth-oldest home in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission designated it Historic-Cultural Monument No. 103 in 1972.
The house was designed and built by Burgess J. Reeve in 1889 as a residence for John A. Forthmann, a German immigrant who founded Los Angeles Soap Company in the early 1860s. Most famous for its "White King" brand, the business was one of the oldest industries in California, and remained profitable well into the 1980s.
The home, which originally stood at 629 West 18th Street (near the location of today's Los Angeles Convention Center), was converted into an apartment building after Forthmann's death in 1922. It was donated to USC by Nicholas Shammas in 1987, and in November of the following year, making way for expansion of the Convention Center, it was moved to its current location at 2801 South Hoover Street, just north of the University Park campus.
After its relocation, the house was completely restored and renovated under the auspices of the USC Real Estate Development Corporation, which was established during the 1980s to develop property around the university's two campuses for faculty housing and commercial use. Kristin Belko, a University Park developer and attorney, helped oversee the renovation, with USC architecture professor Stefanos Polyzoides, of de Bretteville and Polyzoides, serving as restoration architect.
During the 1990s, the house served as headquarters for a variety of tenants, including the USC Real Estate Development Corporation, the university's Department of Public Safety, the LAPD Southwest Division and City Living Realty.
On June 16, 1999, the staff of the USC Office of Civic and Community Relations took up residence in Community House, moving from their former space in the USC Religious Center (where they had resided since the office's creation in 1985).