Frederick Hastings Rindge was a capitalist and philanthropist who left an estate of $22 million when he died unexpectedly in 1905 at the age of 48.
Frederick Hastings Rindge circa 1900. Courtesy of Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives: Connie Cramer Collection.
Rindge married Rhoda May Knight on May 17, 1887, in Michigan, the same year the couple moved to California. With an inheritance of $11 million from his father the couple bought most of the land that the city of Malibu now sits upon. They built a large Victorian house on the land, but this Malibu house burned to the ground on December 4, 1903 due to a brush fire.
From Greater Los Angeles & Southern California Portraits & Personal Memoranda.
The Rindge House above was their city house. It was completed in August 1903 and was the work of architect Frederick Louis Roehrig. Roehrig also designed the Hotel Green (1893) in Pasadena and the McNally Mansion (1887) in Altadena. This image of their home is circa 1905.
I could find little regarding the house’s construction except for a brief Los Angeles Times missive dated August 31, 1903, prior to the family’s occupancy.
“Frederick Rindge and family expect to occupy their beautiful new home at the intersection of Harvard and Hobart Boulevards this week. One of the largest consignments of furniture ever shipped to a private individual on the Coast was received last week from New York, where Mr. Rindge selected the best that money could buy.”
This Rindge home still exists and is located at 2263 South Harvard Boulevard in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. When the Rindge home was built it was in an exclusive neighborhood in LA, but due to white flight in the 1940s it eventually became an African American neighborhood known as Sugar Hill. Hattie McDaniel, of Gone With the Wind fame, resided in a stately home on Sugar Hill.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Rindge devoted his time to the Conservative Life Insurance Company first on its board of directors and then as its president.
Architectural rendering of The Conservative Life Building from The Los Angeles Herald.
The Conservative Life Insurance Company began business on July 1, 1900, and originally had their offices in the Laughlin Building. The business almost immediately needed larger space so the company decided to erect a building at the northeast corner of Third and Hill Streets in downtown Los Angeles. The building would sit on a lot 120 by 115 feet.
The building permit, for a five-story building, was issued on May 3, 1901. At this stage, the estimated cost of the building was between $80,000 and $100,000. According to newspaper reports the public sides of the building would feature buff colored pressed brick and terra cotta ornaments and be a mix of two styles — Moorish and Renaissance. Train & Williams, who would design Judson Studios in 1911, were the lead architects on the project and Eisen & Hunt were the consulting architects. The building opened on July 3, 1902. The Santa Fe Railroad leased part of the fourth floor and all of the fifth floor.
Image from The Inland Architect and News Record.
This is the only photographic image I’ve ever found of the Conservative Life Building. It looks like something Louis Sullivan would have designed. There must be an image of the whole building somewhere. If anyone knows of one send it to me and I’ll be forever grateful and give you credit.
The Conservative Life Building.
My prayers were answered. My friend, Mark Snowden, located a photograph of the Conservative Life Building. YAY! I was so happy to get it. The building looks much bigger in this photograph.
There was also a Rindge Building in downtown Los Angeles.
On March 21, 1899, Rindge and Mrs. John R. Hayes bought the land on the northeast corner at Broadway and Third Streets for $130,000. They also bought the commercial building situated on the property for $60,000 for a total purchase price of $190,000. Rindge held a 3/4ths interest in the property and Mrs. Hayes owned a 1/4th interest. The seller was Mrs. J. C. Graves. J. C. Graves purchased the parcel in 1879 for $2,250 and built a house on the property which the Graves family used as their residence. In 1888, Eugene Germain bought the house from the Graves and moved the house to Hope and Tenth Streets where he still lived at the time of the Rindge/Hayes purchase.
From Wikimedia Commons. This is a USC Digital Library photograph that Wikimedia Commons has on their website. The photograph is circa 1893-1900.
This is Broadway at Third Street. The building with the flag is the old city hall that opened in 1889. The three-story, dark building with the rounded corner, arched windows and cornice topped with circular ornamentation is the Rindge Building. The building with the white awnings, closest to the camera, is the Bradbury Building which opened in 1893.
From Greater Los Angeles & Southern California Portraits & Personal Memoranda.
The above image & biography are from Robert J. Burdette’s book. Burdette spoke at Rindge’s memorial service.
Rindge traveled to Yreka, California at the end of August 1905 to inspect some mining properties in Siskiyou County. He was ill when he arrived, so Dr. O. B. Spalding of Yreka was immediately summoned. Spalding consulted with other physicians over the following days, but it was to no avail. Frederick Hastings Rindge died as a result of a diabetic coma and stomach and gall bladder complications.
Rindge was a very religious man. In March 1905, while entertaining Conservative Life Insurance agents at his home, he said to the assembled agents, “Do right in thought as well as in act. If you do there will be no cause for anxiety, doubt, discontent, nor fear of the future. If you obey God he will stand by you. You must often ask yourself ‘Am I doing right in every way?’ If you are, God will do everything for you. If you are not, then you would better overcome your faults, that you may have his friendship, assistance and deliverance from evil.”
In 1895 Rindge donated $15,000 to the First Methodist Episcopal Society to build a church in Santa Monica.
Rindge and his family are buried at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles. His marker looks like it should be on the top of an early twentieth century skyscraper.
After Rindge’s death, Rhoda May engaged in a protracted legal battle with the Southern Pacific Railroad. The railroad wanted some of her Malibu land for a line up the coast, but Rhoda May was determined to prevent them from getting any of the land at any cost.
Rhoda May, outlived Frederick Hastings Rindge by more than three decades. According to the Harvard Magazine, “In her efforts to defend the ranch against the encroachments of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Rhoda Rindge spent millions, even hiring a small private army to patrol its borders. So excessive and protracted was her struggle that one of her sons sued her for dissipating the family estate. At her death, all the wealth her husband had accumulated had dwindled to a few hundred dollars.”
David Randall, in his book The King and Queen of Malibu, wrote, “Once one of the wealthiest women in the country, May died with just $750 in cash to her name.”
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Sources
A grand man gone. (1905, August 30). Los Angeles Times, 16.
Abeel, D. Vita Frederick Hastings Rindge: brief life of a model citizen 1857-1905. Harvard Magazine. Accessed on February 11, 2022 from, https://harvardmagazine.com/sites/default/files/html/1998/nd98/vita.html
At the city’s gates. (1903, August 31). Los Angeles Times, 5.
Building permits. (1901, May 4). Los Angeles Herald, 11.
Burdette, R. J. (1910). Greater Los Angeles & Southern California portraits & personal memoranda. Los Angeles: Lewis Publishing Company.
Business property deal nearly two hundred thousand dollars for a good corner. (1899, March 22). Los Angeles Times, 7.
Conservative Life Building Los Angeles, Cal. (1904, October). The Inland Architect and News Record, XLIV, 4.
Conservative Life Insurance Company. (1902, July 13). Los Angeles Herald, 10.
Conservative Life to erect building. (1901, February 6). Los Angeles Herald, 9.
Five-story building. (1901, February 6). Los Angeles Times, 9.
Flight for life from brush fires. (1903, December 6). Los Angeles Times, 6.
In memoriam of Mr. Rindge. (1905, September 18). Los Angeles Times, 14.
Officials celebrate luncheon of Conservative Life Insurance Company’s officers. (1902, July 4). Los Angeles Herald, 5.
Randall, D. K. (2016). The king and queen of Malibu. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Rindge Building. Wikimedia Commons. USC Digital Library.
Santa Fe will have new general offices. (1901, July 31). Los Angeles Herald, 11.
Santa Monica. (1896, January 1). Los Angeles Times, 21.
Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives. Connie Cramer Collection.
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My book from the History Press, Architects Who Built Southern California, was released on March 11, 2019. It’s 10 chapters with each chapter devoted to a different architect (or architectural firm) including: Harrison Albright, John Austin, Claud Beelman, Elmer Grey, Hudson & Munsell, A. C. Martin, Meyer & Holler, Julia Morgan, Morgan Walls & Clements and Alfred F. Rosenheim.
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