Background
Abraham A. Edelman was born in 1864 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Abraham A. Edelman was born in 1864 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
With an office established in the city during the late 'eighties, Mr. Edelman soon acquired a successful practice. One of his early commissions was for a Public School in the down-town area, followed in the course of years by a number of important buildings, both public and private. Outstanding among these were Blanchard Hall, built of reinforced concrete, utilizing salvaged street railway cables for reinforcing walls and foundations; the Black Office Building at the northwest corner of Hill and Fourth Street; the Weil Building; Horace Mann High School; Hollenbeck Old Peoples’ Home on Boyle Heights; the Los Angeles Normal School at Fifth and Grand, razed about 1925 and now the site of the central City Public Library; the old Majestic Theatre on Broadway near Ninth, said to have been the first reinforced concrete Class "A" theatre with balcony and galleries carried on cantilever trusses, erected in the state. Mr. Edelman’s great achievement in architecture however was the Temple B'Nai Brith on Wilshire Boulevard at Oxford with its huge 100-foot concrete dome, on the design of which he was aided by David C. Allison as Consulting Architect.
He was also a past-president of the State Association of Architects, Southern Branch, and served for many years on the State Board of Architectural Examiners.
Prominently identified with the Southern California Chapter, A.I.A. of which he had been a member since 1902.