Larchmont Village / Hancock Park : 1930s Deco Moderne Award-Winning building. 5,000 sq.ft. Hardwood floors, gorgeous leaded windows, antique light fixtures. Former home of President John F. Kennedy. High ceilings, rounded walls, built-in bookshelves. Real deco kitchen -dishwasher; washer/dryer in unit. Two formal dining rooms. Two patios, gorgeous bathrooms. Multiple car parking, Central Air.
Serene as a safely harbored ocean liner, cresting the waves of traffic along Rossmore Ave., the Mauretania is the flagship in a fleet of 30 Art Deco apartment buildings Dave Goldstein owns throughout the city. Curving back from the sidewalk, the gem of retro architecture at 520-522 N. Rossmore Ave. was built for actor Jack Haley, who achieved screen immortality with his portrayal of the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz.” Haley and his wife Flo commissioned Milton J. Black to design the building in 1934.
The 10-unit, stucco Mauretania was built around an open courtyard area and topped by an extensive penthouse flat where the Haleys lived for 20 years. The structure’s rounded exterior walls suggest an ocean-going vessel, and the second floor balconies with railings of steel pipe evoke the feeling of a luxuriously large deck.
Although its tenant roster has included film stars, supermodels, architects, rock musicians and writers, the Mauretania’s best known occupant was a career politician who only stayed four days. But during that time, he was nominated for president of the United States, a position he won four months later.
In the summer of 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy rented the penthouse apartment from the Haleys during the Democratic National Convention. In addition to its convenient location, near the Biltmore Hotel, headquarters of the Democratic National Committee delegates, and the Sports Arena, site of the convention, it was private enough so Kennedy could have some seclusion.