523 So. Rimpau Blvd

By Jane Gilman

The house at 523 Rimpau Blvd. was built in 1924 for Dr. Isaac Jones and his wife Emily who also purchased the property next door. Architect Roland Coate was assigned the project. Coate designed the home in a Spanish Italian style incorporating wood frame construction with a plaster exterior. In 1927, Wilbur Hammond and his wife Lulu moved into the 14-room residence with five bedrooms and five bathrooms and a one-story garage. The house sits on almost a half-acre and contains 5,970 square feet. A swimming pool was added in 1975.

Wilbur Hammond was born in Centreville, Md, in 1877 and married Lulu Loughman in 1903. He was working in Pittsburgh as a railroad cashier. Hammond moved his family to Los Angeles in 1925, renting 858 S. Windsor Blvd. while planning and building his house. The Hammonds moved into their new home in 1928. Lulu Hammond died at age 60 in 1941 and Wilbur married her 24-year-old nurse shortly after.

He placed the house on the market in 1950, describing it as a Georgian Colonial. Next owners were attorney Paul Iverson and his wife Joy, who had been married in Salt Lake City in 1936. Joy Iverson was the great-granddaughter of Paul Taylor, who succeeded Brigham Young as head of the Mormon Church. They moved in with their daughters Ann and Jane. A son, Peter, arrived in 1940. Iverson served as the Mormon Church’s legal counsel for Southern California and was instrumental in the building of the landmark Mormon Temple in Westwood. He was president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Los Angeles Rotary Club.

The Department of Building and Safety issued Iverson a permit for a porch in 1955 but this appears never to have been built. In 1974 the Department of Building & Safety issued a permit for a 15- by 30-foot swimming pool. The Iversons retained the home until the 1970s. Paul died in 1975. In 1981, Joy Iverson married Elbert S. Hartwick, a retired senior executive at the Carnation Company. Hartwick died in 1990 and Joy died in 2014 at the age of 101.

In 1982, David Mandel purchased the house for $450,000. Mandel sold the home two years later to Leslie and Howard King. Current owners, who purchased the home in 1996, are Mark Stern and Betsy Burnham. Mark is partner at Echoverse, a podcast company. Betsy is an interior designer, owner/principal at Burnham Design.