Sovereign Hotel (Sovereign Apartments)

The Sovereign Hotel in Santa Monica has towered above Washington Avenue since 1928. Grand apartment hotels like the Sovereign sprang up in the 1920s for the growing population of resort visitors and local residents. Built in Spanish Colonial Revival style, the five-story exterior features cast stone detailing, decorative metal work, and a red tile gable roof. Damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the Sovereign was rehabilitated to historic preservation standards in 1996. In 1997, the Sovereign Hotel became a National Register of Historic Places listing; it was designated a Santa Monica Historic Landmark in 1986. The building is now Sovereign Apartments.

The Sovereign Hotel in Santa Monica was designed by Curt Meyer-Radon; it was constructed by James Leslie Crown and the Anglo American Building Company. Crown, a builder, was also the first owner of the hotel. The reinforced concrete building was covered in stucco and is roughly L-shaped. Partial roofs of red clay barrel tile along the parapet line block the view of the flat main roof. Near the southwest corner was a square tower covered by a hipped roof lantern; there is a fifth-floor terrace below the tower and in the southeast corner of the building. The main entry was reached from the Washington St. sidewalk by steps, sheltered by an arched entry pavilion with square columns. An entry courtyard was slightly higher than the adjacent sidewalk of Washington St., between two projecting wings on the ends of the building; the north wing reached the sidewalk, and the south wing was shorter, allowing a view along Washington St. to the ocean from the courtyard. Along the sidewalk was a low wall topped with urns.

The official opening was in 1929. A two-story rear north wing was added in 1937. The Sovereign Hotel was one of nine locations in Santa Monica designated as air raid casualty stations during World War II. Hundreds of locations were listed for the L.A. area in a local newspaper in 1943, advising residents and workers to make note of their closest location in case of being injured in a Japanese aerial attack. The hotel was the scene of happier occasions, too. A wedding reception was held in the Terrace Room in September 1941 after locals Miss Olive Smith and Dr. Ambrose Cowden were married.

Advertisements for the Sovereign Hotel in the early 1960s touted its daily maid service, subterranean garage, TV lounge, and reading room. While the rooms in the "resident apartment hotel" reportedly were unique and exclusive, they were not expensive. A Mr. George E. Brownell was the manager/owner in 1962; he and his wife purchased the building, including 75 apartments, in 1961.

There was already a "Sovereign Apartments" in the L.A. area by the late 1920s, in Long Beach. A different L.A. area building, on Wilshire Boulevard by 1951, was called "Westwood Sovereign Hotel & Apartments." Some of the residents of the Sovereign Hotel and Apartments in Santa Monica complained in 1987 of bug infestations and lack of heat and hot water.

Our Sovereign Hotel building suffered damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake and subsequent rainstorms. At the end of 1994, it was announced that a new investor would give the Sovereign Hotel a fresh start. The building was subsequently rehabilitated in 1996, sensitive to historic preservation. The building was owned by Sovereign Restoration Partners from Kingwood, Texas in 1997 when it was documented for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Now known as "The Sovereign," the gated building holds luxury apartments offered for short-term, furnished rentals (30-day minimum) or long-term, unfurnished rentals.

Anonymous. "Air raid casualty stations - in case." Daily News (Los Angeles) February 1st, 1943. 1,26.

Anonymous. "Wedding of Dr. Ambrose Cowden And Miss Olive Smith." Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz) September 16th, 1941. Society sec, 5-5.

Anonymous. "Sovereign Hotel has been sold." Evening Outlook (Santa Monica) July 11th, 1961. 16-16.

Anonymous. "Sovereign Hotel gets new lease on life from investor." The Outlook (Santa Monica) December 31st, 1994. A sec, 1-1.

Anonymous. "Tarnished image, bugs, lack of heat, hot water cited by building residents ." Evening Outlook (Santa Monica) September 14th, 1987. , A sec, 1-1.

Brownell, Mr. "Santa Monica Sovereign Hotel - Apts." Desert Sun (Palm Springs) March 23rd, 1962. Advertisements sec, 23-23.

Imagine Santa Monica. Sovereign Apartment Hotel, 205 Washington Avenue..., Santa Monica Image Archives. January 1st, 1992. Accessed July 10th, 2023. https://digital.smpl.org/digital/collection/smarchive/id/3505.

McAvoy, Christy Johnson. NRHP nomination of Sovereign Hotel, Santa Monica, California. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1997.

Santa Monica Conservancy. Sovereign Apartments/Hotel, Explore Santa Monica. January 1st, 2023. Accessed July 10th, 2023. https://smconservancy.org/property/sovereign-apartmentshotel/.

The Sovereign Santa Monica. Luxury Living Steps from the Beach, The Sovereign Santa Monica. January 1st, 2022. Accessed July 10th, 2023. https://thesovereignsantamonica.com/.