The rehabilitated Boyle Hotel demonstrates a successful effort to bring much needed affordable housing to Boyle Heights while at the same time restoring a beloved icon to its former glory. Today the Boyle Hotel is a legacy for the local community and an important link to its past.
Chattel worked with East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC) and architect Richard Barron to restore the building’s distinctive corner cupola, rehabilitate 30 affordable units in the historic building and add 21 units in a new addition. The project received a National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a Los Angeles Conservancy Preservation Award in 2013.
New affordable housing for mariachis, who congregate daily in the nearby Mariachi Plaza waiting to be hired.
The 4,150 square feet of retail space includes a Mariachi Cultural Center.
When constructed in 1889 by George Cummings, the Boyle Hotel reflected expansion and growth outside Los Angeles' commercial core. The building represents a transition at the end of the nineteenth century when Los Angeles went from a town surrounded by farmland to a burgeoning city center surrounded by suburban neighborhoods. Photo courtesy of California State Library.