Spring Street Financial District

South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles holds a concentrated group of 26 significant buildings, most put up between about 1900 and the mid-1930s to house banks, insurance companies and investment firms. The stretch, just over three city blocks, was long called the "Wall Street of the West." Development moved south from Fourth Street after the Continental Building, regarded as the city's first skyscraper, and the Hellman Building began the push in 1902. Later additions included the Security Building, Rowan Building, Crocker Bank, the Title Insurance and Trust Building, and the Pacific Stock Exchange. Architects such as John Parkinson, Parkinson & Bergstrom, and Morgan, Walls & Morgan designed many of them. Classical, Commercial and Moderne designs with restrained ornament and similar heights give the street a uniform look. Banks began moving west toward Wilshire Boulevard and Figueroa Street in the 1960s, leaving many buildings partly vacant. Several later structures are noted as intrusions.