Continental Building

Description:

• This building is Los Angeles' first skyscraper. It was designed and built in 1904 by John Parkinson, who also built the Title Guarantee & Trust Building as well as numerous other downtown buildings. The structure rises 175 feet into the sky and serves as the aging patriarch of the downtown skyline. After it was built, the city of Los Angeles introduced an ordinance saying that no building could be higher than 150 feet. City officials didn't want any buildings taller than this establishment. But City Hall was an exception as was the later Transamerica Building, and countless other skyscrapers since.
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