{"nrhp_refnum":"04000621","name":"General Petroleum Building","other_names":["Mobil Oil Building","Pegasus Apartments"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"612 S. Flower St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Los Angeles","county":"Los Angeles County","state":"CA","lat":34.04949396100005,"lon":-118.25747424399998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-06-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A thirteen-story office building at 612 South Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles, built between 1947 and 1949 to designs by Wurdeman and Becket, and later converted to apartments.","why_significant":"The building is significant under Criterion C as an early major office building by Wurdeman and Becket, architects regarded as masters of post-war Los Angeles design. It was the largest office building in Los Angeles when completed. Its horizontal massing, aluminum sunshades and ceramic veneer cladding helped define the post-war Moderne high-rise idiom.","narrative":"Occupying a full block on the east side of South Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles, this thirteen-story building was erected between 1947 and 1949 as an office headquarters for an oil company. At roughly half a million square feet, it was the largest office building in the city when finished. Architects Wurdeman and Becket gave it a wide, horizontal form clad in buff glazed terra cotta, with framed banks of windows shaded by vertical aluminum fins and a dark granite base that makes the mass seem to float. Two open light courts bring daylight to interior spaces. The design was an early step in the firm's development of a post-war office-building style, and it also used lightweight concrete and other new materials. The exterior remains largely unchanged. A 2003 rehabilitation turned the offices into apartments within the original corridor layout and added parking and a rooftop recreation area. It was listed for its architectural importance.","period_of_significance":"1949","architect_builder":"Wurdeman and Becket, architect; Walker, P. J., builder","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Moderne; Corporate","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Converted to apartments in a certified rehabilitation in 2003; the exterior is in good condition and retains very high integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.599616-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/04000621.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000621/52a90c4790-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000621/52a90c4790-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Los Angeles","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Petroleum_Building,_Los_Angeles.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_Petroleum_Building,_Los_Angeles.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123859144","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Petroleum_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5532093"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/los-angeles-county/general-petroleum-building-04000621/"}