Sixth Street Bridge, Spanning 101 Freeway at Sixth Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA
Summary
Significance: Sixth Street Viaduct is an example of Moderne design, with the detailing referred to as "starved Classicism." Sixth Street Viaduct was the last and the most monumental of the twelve City of Los Angeles river bridges that were built as part of the City Beautiful Plans of the early 1900's. City beautiful plans were inspired by the civic architecture of Paris and Rome, which sought to beautify United States cities by constructing grand civic monuments, incorporating both building and public works projects. The Sixth Street Bridge is one of twelve bridges over the Los Angeles River eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places as important elements in the development of transportation in Los Angeles. Sixth Street Viaduct, the longest of these river bridges, has distinctive non-symmetrical through steel arches and Art Deco/Moderne architectural styling. The bridge is also significant because the design engineer was Merrill Butler, a major figure in Los Angeles's massive river bridge construction program from 1923 to 1933.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N844
Survey number: HAER CA-176
Building/structure dates: 1932 Initial Construction