This structure on the northwest corner of First & Broadway. was the home of the Los Angeles Times newspaper in 1926.

1926. Photo: Water & Power Associates

The Times was one of several daily papers in the city at the time, but could boast the largest circulation of them all. For the last few years its publisher was Harry Chandler, who took over after the death of his father-in-law Harrison Gray Otis in 1917. Designed by Walter E. Erkes (1884-1961), this was the third Times building. It replaced the 1886 structure at the same location that had been destroyed by a bomb in 1910. The battlement clock tower, with its 10-foot clock by Nels Johnson, was a downtown landmark.

The Times would seek a new home a few years later, across the street and a block east at the  southwest corner of First & Spring, where the 1882 Nadeau Hotel stood in 1926. Designed in the modern style by Gordon B. Kaufmann, it opened on July 1, 1935.

Demolition of the old Times took place between September 1937 and March 1938. It was no easy feat as the building had been built to withstand an earthquake or another bombing. The site became landscaped grounds for the State Office Building (not yet built in 1926).