Stick Style!

Los Angeles boasts few examples of the Stick Style (previously featured in Architectural Musings), a transitional style which links the preceding Gothic revival with the subsequent, crowd pleasing Queen Anne. That's partly a by-product of the age of L.A.'s built environment (the Stick style was largely cast aside by the 1890's), and the lukewarm popularity of the style itself, less favored than the contemporaneous Italianate and Second Empire building types.

While restoration idol Roland Souza hacks through the deferred maintenance undergrowth on his Stick re-do at 24th ST., this treasure (near Main & 23rd) warrants equal measure.

The signature touch is the siding applied in varying directions and the picket-fence pattern which forms a band at the base of the gable.

The Southland's best known Stick Style building may be the Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro (1874) or the Sherman-Gilbert house (see photo left), with trademark tower in San Diego's Heritage Park.