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2 unusual facts about Elmer Grey


Elmer Grey

The church Grey designed for the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Los Angeles was later used by Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple immediately prior to the 1978 Jonestown tragedy.

They also designed a dormitory and other structures for Claremont College and a master expansion plan for Pomona College.


George Rodney Willis

Projects on the boards during the time that Willis worked with Hunt and his partner Elmer Grey include:the Edith Daniels House, in Aradia, CA (1904), the Livingston Jenks House, San Rafael, CA (1904), the Astronomer's House (aka The Monastery) and other buildings, at the Mount Wilson Observatory, Mount Wilson, CA (1904), the Thomas H. Foote House, East Colorado Street, Pasadena, CA (1905), and the J.W. Gillespie House, in Montecito, CA.

West Adams, Los Angeles

In the 1950s, the construction of the Harbor Freeway destroyed many large homes on the east side of West Adams, while the 1960s construction of the Santa Monica Freeway completely obliterated Berkeley Square, which held significant houses designed by Elmer Grey, and bisected West Adams Heights.

Zane Grey Estate

Designed by architects Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey (no relation to the author), the 1907 Mediterranean Revival style house is acclaimed as the first fireproof home in Altadena, built entirely of reinforced concrete as prescribed by Woodward's wife, Edith Norton Woodward.


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