Guy S. Bliss is the name the Bungalow Heaven National Register nomination attaches to more houses than any other: 20 houses on North Michigan and North Chester Avenues, built in 1908, 1909 and 1910, all credited to him as architect and 19 of them by attribution. The nomination names him outright at one address, 810 North Michigan Avenue.
20Buildings on record
20Houses
1908 to 1910Years
20Houses confirmed standing
1Cities
Questions
Who was Guy S. Bliss?
The documents behind this record name him as the architect of bungalows in Bungalow Heaven and say little else about him. A builder recorded as G. S. Bliss built 500 Prospect Boulevard, to a design by W. B. Edwards; that may be the same man, but no document here says so, so the record keeps the two names apart.
Why are so many Guy S. Bliss houses attributed?
Because the nomination marks them that way: it names him outright at 810 North Michigan Avenue and by attribution at the rest. An attribution is the nomination's judgment, not a permit with his name on it, and the nomination does not say what each one rests on. On this record, 19 of his 20 Bungalow Heaven credits are attributed.
Where are the Guy S. Bliss bungalows?
On North Michigan Avenue from 777 to 899 and on North Chester Avenue from 770 to 886, in Bungalow Heaven. The county record confirms 20 of these houses standing.
Who can tell me if my bungalow is a Bliss?
I can check. I'm Greg Anderson of Arroyo Casa. Send me the address and I'll tell you whether the nomination names Bliss for your house, and whether it names him outright or by attribution.
The record
Every building credited to Guy S. Bliss.
Buildings the record credits to Guy S. Bliss, in the order they were built. Commercial buildings and courts are included here because they are part of the maker's work; the neighborhood, city and year pages list houses only.
This record is compiled by the Arroyo Casa Archive of Records from public documents: city and county historic resources surveys and inventories, National Register nominations, landmark designation reports and council records, planning documents and preservation groups' publications, plus the building notices of 1917 to 1930, printed as houses were permitted, contracted or announced. Where a house was matched to the Los Angeles County Assessor's record at the same address in the same city, the page says whether the county confirms it standing. A house is shown only when one of those documents names its architect, and the builder and the first family are shown beside the architect where a document names them. Each house carries the kind of document behind it, and a credit the document itself calls likely, probable, possible or attributed is marked attributed. The methodology and every source document are on one page.
Find who designed your house.
Every house has a birth year. Start with the owner's guide: how to find who designed and built your house, who lived in it first, and what this record already holds.
