The Perrine House: A Berkeley Square Survivor in West Adams
Just West Adams · Field Notes
A 1908 Craftsman at the old southern gate of Berkeley Square, the most exclusive Los Angeles enclave that no longer exists. The block was erased for a freeway. This house was not.
What is the Perrine House?
The Perrine House is a 1908 Craftsman residence at 2229 South Gramercy Place in West Adams, designed by the architecture firm Hunt, Eager and Burns for Frank Perrine. The City of Los Angeles designated it Historic-Cultural Monument number 662 in 1999. It stands at the former southern gateway to Berkeley Square, a lost enclave demolished for the Santa Monica Freeway.
The Perrine House is easy to miss and worth stopping for. Debbie Pisaro has spent 24 years reading the built history of Los Angeles, and some of the most telling houses are the ones that survived what happened around them. It sits on the corner of Gramercy Place and 23rd Street in West Adams, an unassuming brown Craftsman that most people drive past without a glance. What they are passing is one of the last physical traces of Berkeley Square, arguably the grandest private neighborhood the city ever built and then destroyed.
What was Berkeley Square?
Berkeley Square was a private, gated residential block in West Adams, developed in the early twentieth century and known for its large architect-designed homes, its landscaped median, and its prominent residents. It was only one block long, entered through gates off Western Avenue and Gramercy Place, but that single block held some of the most ambitious houses in the city, serious homes by serious architects set among towering palms. For its first decades it was an exclusive white enclave, its lots governed by the restrictive covenants common to the era.
By the mid-twentieth century that had changed. Berkeley Square and the surrounding West Adams Heights, later nicknamed Sugar Hill, became one of the most prestigious African American neighborhoods in Los Angeles, home to Black professionals, entertainers, and civic leaders after the racial covenants were challenged and fell. Debbie has written about that chapter of the district through houses like the Phyllis Wheatley House. Then, in the early 1960s, the entire block of Berkeley Square was condemned and demolished to make way for the Santa Monica Freeway, Interstate 10. The palms, the median, the great houses, all of it was ground away. Today there is essentially nothing left of Berkeley Square itself.
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Join the list or call (310) 362-6429How did the Perrine House survive?
The Perrine House survived because of where it stood. Berkeley Square was entered from the south through gates on Gramercy Place, and the Perrine House sat just outside them, at the corner of Gramercy and 23rd, a witness at the threshold rather than a house on the private block itself. When the freeway took Berkeley Square, it took the houses inside the gates. The Perrine House, a step outside, remained. That accident of position is why a 1908 Craftsman is still standing where one of the city's most storied neighborhoods used to be, and why the city designated it a monument in part for what it represents: a survivor of a place that is otherwise gone.
What kind of house is it?
The Perrine House is a Craftsman, built in 1908, the work of the Los Angeles architecture firm Hunt, Eager and Burns, and built for Frank Perrine. Craftsman was the defining residential idiom of West Adams in these years, the Arts and Crafts vocabulary of deep porches, exposed structure, natural materials, and honest woodwork, and the district still holds one of the largest concentrations of it anywhere in the city. Where the two brick mansions a mile north on Westchester Place were showpieces of imported grandeur, the Perrine House speaks the local language, the architecture that actually defines historic West Adams. Debbie writes about that architecture across the district and is regularly cited as one of the city's specialists in architectural and historic real estate, from Craftsman bungalows to the Paul Williams house in Lafayette Square and the Carolyn Bumiller Hickey House.
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Many of the finest historic homes in West Adams and across Los Angeles trade quietly, off-market. Ask Debbie to be told when one comes available.
See off-market homesHow does the Perrine House fit the 660, 661, 662 trio?
The Perrine House is the quiet third member of a remarkable set. On June 22, 1999, the City of Los Angeles designated three consecutive Historic-Cultural Monuments in this corner of West Adams on the same day: number 660, the Rosenheim Mansion, architect Alfred Rosenheim's own home and the house that plays the Murder House on American Horror Story; number 661, the Rives Mansion next door to it; and number 662, the Perrine House here on Gramercy. The two mansions are famous, grand, and Rosenheim-designed. The Perrine House is none of those things, and that is exactly why it belongs in the set: it is the ordinary-looking survivor that carries the memory of Berkeley Square, the neighborhood the other two never had to outlive. Debbie covers the district's landmarks together, part of the same map that runs through the Olmsted Brothers plan for Leimert Park and the Life Magazine model house.
What does Historic-Cultural Monument status mean for an owner?
Historic-Cultural Monument designation is the City of Los Angeles program that protects a property's defining character, and the Perrine House carries number 662 of more than twelve hundred monuments citywide. Designation means proposed exterior changes are reviewed by the city's Office of Historic Resources, and it opens the door to the Mills Act, the contract that can substantially reduce property taxes on a qualifying historic home. Debbie works with buyers and sellers on exactly these questions, from her guide to what monument status means for value to the practicalities of selling a Mills Act home, and owners here can start with the Mills Act in West Adams. The official program details live with Los Angeles City Planning, and the Mills Act is documented there as well.
A house like this most often changes hands when the family that has held it for years decides it is time, and that is the moment the right West Adams agent earns their place. It is the work Debbie built Coastline 840 to do as a boutique brokerage rather than a big-box shop, and she covers the pricing of an intact landmark in pricing a one-of-a-kind architectural home.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Perrine House?
The Perrine House is at 2229 South Gramercy Place, on the corner of 23rd Street, in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. It stands at the former southern gateway to Berkeley Square, the private enclave that was demolished in the early 1960s for the Santa Monica Freeway.
Who designed the Perrine House?
The Los Angeles architecture firm Hunt, Eager and Burns designed the Perrine House, which was built in 1908 for Frank Perrine. It is a Craftsman residence, the defining residential style of historic West Adams and the idiom that gives the district its architectural character.
What was Berkeley Square?
Berkeley Square was a private, gated, one-block residential enclave in West Adams, known for its large architect-designed homes and its landscaped median. Developed in the early twentieth century, it was condemned and demolished in the early 1960s to make way for the Santa Monica Freeway.
What is the Perrine House's HCM number?
The Perrine House is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument number 662, designated on June 22, 1999. That is the same day the city designated the Rosenheim Mansion as number 660 and the Rives Mansion as number 661, both a mile north on Westchester Place.
When was the Perrine House built?
The Perrine House was built in 1908, the same year architect Alfred Rosenheim completed his own home a mile north on Westchester Place. The two houses show the range of what West Adams was building at that moment, from Craftsman restraint to imported brick grandeur.
What architectural style is the Perrine House?
The Perrine House is a Craftsman, an example of the Arts and Crafts style that defines historic West Adams. The idiom is characterized by deep porches, exposed structure, natural materials, and honest woodwork, and the district holds one of the largest concentrations of it anywhere in the city.
Is anything left of Berkeley Square?
Almost nothing. The entire private block was condemned and demolished in the early 1960s for Interstate 10, and the palms, the median, and the great houses were all ground away. The Perrine House, which stood just outside the southern gates, is one of the few nearby survivors.
How is the Perrine House related to the Rosenheim and Rives mansions?
All three were designated Historic-Cultural Monuments on the same day in 1999, numbered 660, 661, and 662. The Perrine House is 662, the modest Craftsman survivor in a set otherwise made of grand brick mansions designed by Alfred Rosenheim on Westchester Place.
What does Historic-Cultural Monument status mean for an owner?
Designation protects a property's defining character. Proposed exterior changes are reviewed by the city's Office of Historic Resources, and designation opens the door to the Mills Act, a contract that can substantially reduce property taxes on a qualifying historic home in exchange for a commitment to maintain it.
How do I choose a real estate agent for a historic West Adams home?
Look for someone who works with Historic-Cultural Monuments and Mills Act contracts routinely, not occasionally. Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran of California real estate and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader specializing in architectural and historic homes across Los Angeles, from West Adams Craftsmans to landmark estates.
Drawn to the historic houses of West Adams? Debbie Pisaro and the Coastline 840 West Adams team know these blocks house by house.
(310) 362-6429 ·
debbie@coastline840.com
DRE #01369110 · 160 Glendale Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026
More from the network: Just West Adams · The Rosenheim Mansion · The Rives Mansion
Debbie Pisaro is a 24-year veteran of California real estate and a 2025 Inman Luxury Leader who specializes in architectural and historic homes across Los Angeles. She is the founder of Coastline 840 (DRE #01369110) and writes the Field Notes record of West Adams architecture. More on her architectural and historic work. Published July 2026.
Debbie Pisaro · Coastline 840 · DRE #01369110 · (310) 362-6429