Chester Place

Hancock surveyed the lots near present-day Downtown Los Angeles based on the dirt road boulevards that ran east to west across the city.

Hancock sold this lot that would become Chester place on July 26, 1867, to a group of buyers, one of whom was the New England sea captain Nathan Vail, who purchased 17 acres (69,000 m2) right north of Adams Boulevard.

With a new streetcar line extended from historic Downtown in 1874 along Washington and Figueroa, this meant that the Agricultural Park area had easy transportation to the hub of the city.

Nathan Vail had become involved in a number of real estate speculations during the early 1880s, and eventually sold his personal lot north of Adams to Arizona Federal Judge Charles Silent.

[2] This subdivision represents the official founding of Chester Place, which could be seen behind the massive stone and steel gates that Vail had built to surround his home.

With this move the neighborhood soon began to fill with the rich and influential citizens of Los Angeles, and then on October 24, 1901, Edward and Estelle Doheny purchased number 8 Chester Place for $120,000 cash.

At the finish of the first stage of remodeling in 1902, it was featured in The House Beautiful, which caused a great number of tourists and visitors to show up on the lawn and even knock on the door requesting photographs.

Estelle died in 1958 and left Chester Place to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which transferred the land to Mount St. Mary's University, which officially opened their second campus in 1962.