William Mead House (Hudson & Munsell) – 1914
Address: 4533 Cockerham Drive in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Described as a ‘Prairie’ influenced-style, the house was designed by the eminent architectural firm Hudson & Munsell for William Mead, a pioneer real estate developer in Los Feliz. Mead purchased 400 acres adjoining Griffith Park in 1911 from Col. Griffith J. Griffith and began planning what would become one of the City’s most beautiful subdivisions. He added another 132 acres to his holdings in 1925. For a period of time, Mead owned the entire neighborhood above Los Feliz Boulevard, from Western Avenue to the Los Angeles River.
A Los Angeles Times article reported on June 2, 1912 that ‘Mr. Mead plans to build a dwelling of palatial proportions by his architects Hudson & Munsell; the design will incline towards the English mansion types, although no style will be slavishly adhered to, the architects having aimed primarily at harmonizing the structure with its unusually attractive and picturesque surroundings’.
By 1925, ownership of the house passed to David Hamburger, President of the Hamburger and Sons Department Store which had been founded by his father in 1881. The house became the site of many elegant social gatherings during the Hamburgers ownership. After Mr. Hamburger’s death in April 1945, the property passed briefly to Harold and Lucile De Armand before Frederick and Muriel Cockerham gained ownership seven months later. Mr. Cockerham, who went by the professional name of Charles Fredericks was a singer and member of the Screen Actor’s Guild. Between 1954 and 1965 he appeared in many motion pictures including ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘Tender is the Night’, ‘My Fair Lady’, and ‘The Great Race’. In 1949, the house was severely damaged in a fire in which eighteen of the rooms were destroyed.
