Professor's Row in Historic Highland Park is lined with stately Craftsman style homes, and one home built entirely of river rock.
Physically, the street is a minor service road running parallel to North Figueroa, named Sycamore Terrace on some maps, and showing only as a part of North Figueroa on other maps.
The name Professor's Row originated in the early 1900s when the Occidental College campus was located for a brief time in Highland Park. For a few years, the street was home to staff and faculty of the college.
Occidental College was founded in 1887, and was originally located in Boyle Heights. It's original structures were destroyed by an early morning fire on January 13, 1896.
By the end of 1896, Occidental had made the decision to to rebuild on a seven-and-a-half acre site in Highland Park. The first building on the new site was completed in 1898. Two more buildings would be constructed and some minor ones, before the campus outgrew the Highland Park site, and moved to its current location in Eagle Rock in 1914.
The professors moved on, but the homes remained. A few were sold to developers in the 1960s, demolished, and replaced with apartment complexes.
The remaining homes of Professor's Row are now protected by the Highland Park Historic Overlay Zone, one of L.A. City's largest HPOZs, covering over 2,500 structures.
This link will take you to the City of Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources for more information about Historic Preservation Overlay Zones.
Search for homes on Professor's Row and in Historic Highland Park
History is amazing, yet when they were trying to teach us it in school... who cared or listened.
If it's one thing I love, it's a historic neighborhood. Those river-rock homes are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the history and the photos.
Cheers,
Robin
Cheryl, I'm glad these are protected now...it's such a shame when these beautiful places are demolished; I often wonder what they're thinking.
I never knew Oxy moved from East LA because of a fire. Zounds!
@Carole the developers who demolish it to throw up a pink stucco 8plex are thinking immediate cashflow, not long term ramifications.