BERKELEY SQUARE Historic Los Angeles

6 Berkeley Square

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So we begin our house tour not with address number 1, but with the first house built in Berkeley Square. William R. Burke, a Southerner by birth, was a Democrat, a Catholic, a polo player and a member of the California Club as well as of the Midwick and Los Angeles country clubs (the latter of which, at the beginning of the development of the Square, was still about ten blocks to its north). He was married to a New Orleanian, the couple's Southern roots no doubt accounting for the choice of a columned, center-hall design for their house on lots 26 and 27 (addressed #26 until it became #6 circa 1912). The choice of a lot on the south side of the Square surprises me a bit in that the 24th Street School was just beyond the private alley—perhaps at 60 or so the Burkes' hearing was going, or perhaps the deep lots made any worries of playground noise moot. At any rate, the Los Angeles Times of November 12, 1905, reported that architects Hunt and Eager had revealed plans for "a two-story Colonial-style dwelling for W.R. Burke."

Before going any further, we must discuss Los Angeles architects by the name of Hunt... Sumner Hunt was in partnership with Wesley Eager at the time of the Burke house design; he is often confused with the unrelated Myron Hunt, and each is often mistakenly credited with the other's work. Both were responsible for many distinguished buildings in the Los Angeles area, with Myron frequently cited for more than one house in Berkeley Square. It seems that newspapers of the day were also often confused. The Times, for example, mentions "Hunt and Grey"—which would be Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey—in connection with the Burke house in an article of August 11, 1907. So to be perfectly honest, we are not 100 percent certain of who designed the Burke house, though at the moment we lean toward Sumner Hunt and Wesley Eager. (By the way, even various online databases today deliver conflicting information.)

Back to the house itself... building permits for it were issued to Mr. Burke for "a 2-story, 15-room frame residence" by January 1906. We know that the five-bedroom, five-bath house was ready at least by the end of the year, since, according to the Los Angeles Herald, Mrs. Burke gave an informal tea in December. Her entertainments at #6 ended just a few short years later, however, when she died in 1910. Her husband died the next year at the Mayo Clinic after an operation. The Burkes didn't have much time in their new house, but nevertheless it remained in the family for another fifty years.

The Burkes had two children, both living at #6 when their parents died. Carleton was, like his father, born in Arkansas, coming west with his parents at age two. He followed his father into the real estate business and became an accomplished horseman himself. He was a Deke at Berkeley and spent 15 months in France during the first World War during which he attained the rank of Major. Later he became quite the man about Southern California, not settling down until quite late, marrying Myrtle Wood Hook in 1932 and moving from #6 to 855 South Serrano Street and later to San Marino. He was the first chairman of the California Horse Racing Board and was involved in many other equine activities, well-known for his polo championships at Midwick. Among his Hollywood connections were Katharine Hepburn and her galpal Laura Harding. His sister, Louise, who never married, remained alone at #6 but for servants, nearly until the end of the Square, dying at home on December 7, 1959, age 78. Carleton died in Las Vegas, New Mexico, while enroute to Saratoga Springs by train on July 28, 1962, age 79. The Burkes, appropriately enough, were the family with the longest tenancy in Berkeley Square.