Plaza Firehouse

Plaza Firehouse on Paseo de la Plaza in the heart of historic Los Angeles was built in 1884. Fire House No. 1, as it is also called, was the first building in the city designed to house a crew of volunteer fire fighters, called the Volunteer 38s, and their equipment. Local architect William A. Boring was paid $160.75 for his drawings; Dennis Hennessy completed construction is a quick 3 months. Boring’s design followed closely a fashion then-current in his native Illinois, with the horses stabled inside the station. A unique turntable in the floor made it unnecessary to back the horses in or out. The Plaza Firehouse has been restored and converted into a museum which displays firefighting equipment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a California Historical Landmark and a contributing structure to the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt