The Garment Capitol Building was designed by William Douglas Lee, who was responsible for the design of several commercial and light industrial buildings throughout downtown Los Angeles.  After the repeal of the height limit ordinance in 1957, he designed the 22-story Lee Building in 1958 with his son, Douglas Everett Lee.  Mr. Lee was contracted to design the building by the construction firm of Lloyed and Casler, headed by perhaps the only woman involved in heavy construction in Los Angeles at the time, Florence C. Casler.  The firm built, owned and managed several of the commercial and light industrial buildings in the area from the late 1910s to the early 1930s.

The Gothic Revival style was quite popular in California from the 1860s to 1890s.  In the 1910s, the style began to see a resurgence in the designs of churches, educational buildings and high rises.  It stayed popular until the early 1930s.  Built of reinforced concrete, the Garment Capitol Building is clad in ruffled brown bricks and Gothic Revival  terra cotta panels and shields.  The lobby floors and walls of the building are clad all in marble and even though a drop ceiling was added later, the original vaulted ceiling with a grapevine moulding is still intact.  

Source:  Los Angeles Times, The week ahead
31 March 2008

Source:  Historic-Cultural Monument Application for the Garment Capitol Building
By Ben Taniguchi, 23 October 2007