Brown’s Court Apartments: History of a 1920s Spanish Bungalow Court

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On an oversized lot in the Belmont Heights neighborhood of Long Beach, California, sits a courtyard tucked between two rows of Spanish Revival Style apartments. Located at 3615-3623 East Colorado Street, there are two single-level dwellings in the front and two duplexes in the back; each duplex has one upstairs and one downstairs unit. All of the apartments were originally cozy one-bedrooms with the same efficient floor plans (except for the upstairs units, which have staircases that take you from the front door to the upstairs landing). The built-ins, hardwood floors, coved ceilings, moldings, interior doors, and some of the original windows are still intact. Several apartments feature original kitchens and bathrooms, and there is one surviving intricate glassed-in front door. Brown’s Court Apartments (BCA) is one of Long Beach’s few remaining bungalow courts and the only existing Spanish Bungalow Court in Belmont Heights. The architectural theme, characterized by small, well-designed houses with outdoor communal space, was at its height when BCA was built in 1923. The property has been in use for at least one-hundred years, making it one of the oldest in the area.