Highrises are the iconic elements of American cities. Reaching radical new heights in technological advancement, skyscrapers fused Classical, Renaissance, and Gothic motifs onto steel and defined a new architectural language with Art Deco and International.

The Highrises project reveals hidden details of remarkable buildings, including many that are underappreciated. The images showcase structures that reflect the values and ideals animating the early 20th century. The stories provide historical context and deepen our understanding of their importance and value.

Highrises

**Sun Realty Building**

**Art by:** Chris Hytha

**Story by:** Mark Houser

If the aqua green tile skin of this highrise seems to come from the same palette as the electric blue Eastern Columbia Building, it is because both Art Deco classics are products of the same architect  one with an uncanny ability to adapt to the times.

Claud Beelman first worked with tints as a painter in his dad's Ohio carriage shop. As an architect in Los Angeles, Beelman employed virtually every popular commercial style over the decades, from Beaux-Arts to International. Active into his 70s, Beelman got to design the first L.A. skyscraper to rise after voters in 1958 repealed the city's height limit: an 18-story bank slab sheathed in aluminum panels.

He was a favorite architect of Sun Realty, which began as the property arm of Sun Drug, a pharmacy chain with locations in office buildings it also owned. In 1924 the president, a Polish immigrant and former tailor named Isidor Eisner, sold the drugstores to a bigger competitor but held onto the office buildings and erected more, including this one, hoping to capitalize on sky-high downtown rental rates.

When rents plunged in the Depression, Sun Realty folded. Its gem of a headquarters has been a retail jewelry exchange since 1978.