Lionel Vincent Mayell (4 February 1897 – 31 August 1978) was a Canadian born real estate developer and promoter who is credited with pioneering the concept of "own-your-own-apartment" (later known as condominium ownership) in the western United States in the early twentieth century.
Early life
When Lionel Vincent Mayell was born on 4 February 1897, in London, Ontario, Canada, his father, Arthur Mayell, was 33 and his mother, Una Verda Peters, was 30. It is said he was so small that his parents used a drawer for his crib.
Mayell was seven when his brother, Carman, was born. However, when the family left Canada for a new life in California, seven-year-old Carman contracted dysentery and never recovered. Carman died in Los Angeles on 6 January 1910.
Career
As a young man, the diminutive Mayell—he stood just 5' 2” tall—spent summers working at a tuna packing plant while he attended Occidental College, a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles. After graduating college Mayell may have attended law school. Mayell became enchanted with the idea of modern, communal apartments that would be owned by the residents. By the early 1920s easterners were flocking into southern California, and many needed affordable housing.
Mayell formed a corporation, raised capital, and in 1921–1922 built his first own-your-own apartment complex which he named the Artaban. The building is located at 10 Atlantic Boulevard in downtown Long Beach, and still serves as studio and one bedroom condos. However, parking was not so much in demand in 1921, and the Artaban of 2023 suffers from a lack of that crucial California amenity.
In 1923 Mayell participated in the development and sale of the Cooper Arms at 455 East Ocean Blvd, Long Beach. (According to the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form prepared by Portia Lee, PhD, Mayell was named as secretary of the Cooper Arms Building Company and as the successful promoter of the Artaban Apartments in promotional literature.) Designed by Los Angeles architects Alexander Curlett and Claud Beelman, the Cooper Arms is a twelve-story steel-reinforced concrete building with exterior walls of brick finished with stucco. The design has been described as Renaissance Revival with neo-classical and neo-Egyptian ornamentation so typical for that time in Los Angeles. Originally developed as a housing cooperative with 159 apartments offered for sale on "the own-your-own apartment plan," and with a construction budget of $1,350,000, the Cooper Arms was the most expensive development in Long Beach history to that time. Demand for the new apartments was brisk, and in the six months before construction began, more than $1,250,000 in apartments had already been sold. The building's 12th floor solarium and ballroom, occupying a major portion of the top floor, were among its most notable features. A promotional brochure claimed that the Cooper Arms would have the latest amenities, including steam heating, high-speed elevators, "instantaneous hot water at all times," "Iceless Frigidors," "Disappearing beds," and "Dustless roller screens." The Cooper Arms would become one of the first structures to be designated a Long Beach Historical Landmark when the city launched its historic preservation program in 1980, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The building is still operated as a condominium community in 2023.
Mayell's magnum opus was the 16-story 130-unit $2.75 million Villa Riviera on Ocean Boulevard in Long Beach. From the time it was completed in 1929 through the mid-1950s, the Villa Rivera was the second-tallest building, and the tallest private building, in Southern California – surpassed in height only by the iconic Los Angeles City Hall. Luxurious amenities included a ballroom, an Italianate roof garden, lounges, high-speed elevators, "vacuum-type heating," and a 100-car garage. The Châteauesque building designed by award-winning architect Richard D. King has been called the city's "most elegant landmark," and many considered it the building that most defined the up-and-coming Long Beach. The Villa Riviera was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and continues, as Mayell envisioned, as a condominium community and including two penthouses on the 16th floor featuring exceptional views of the city and Pacific Ocean (and gargoyles flanking the picture windows).