Gordon Kaufmann

Gordon Kaufmann was born in Britain and studied at the London Polytechnic Institute, but moved to the United States in 1914. He designed notable buildings: Greystone Mansion, Los Angeles Time Building, and the Hollywood Palladium. Kaufmann had established a name for himself for the work he had done in the modern style when he was hired to design the architectural aspects of the Hoover Dam. In his early career Kaufmann was a pupil of the Mediterranean Revival school, but later worked primarily in the Art Deco style, with a personal emphasis on massively thick, streamlined concrete walls which gave his buildings a very distinctive appearance.

His project, the Santa Anita Park is a racecourse in Arcadia, California. After the legalization of horse-racing bets in California, the track was opened on Christmas 1934. Kaufmann designed the various buildings in a combination of Colonial Revival and Art Deco in the characteristic colors of Santa Anita: Persian green and chiffon yellow. During World War II, 20,000 Japanese Americans were interned at this site. In 1984, the equestrian competitions of the Olympic Games took place at Santa Anita Park.