Background
Ezra F. Kysor was born in 1835 at Cattargus, New York, United States.
Ezra F. Kysor was born in 1835 at Cattargus, New York, United States.
After the end of the Civil War, settled first at Virginia City, Nevada, where he established an office and is said to have done some building. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1868 he began practice in association with an architect who had an office in the Telmple block on Main Street. During a later period he worked with E.
J.Weston, then in 1876 formed a partnership with Octavius Morgan, head draftsman in his office, under the name of Kysor & Morgan.
The firm's first important work was the old Pico House (hotel) on North Main Street near the Plaza, a three story brick and stucco structure completed during the late 1870's and still standing. Kysor & Morgan continued active in practice until 1888, and during that period were architects of the original building of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Vibiana on Main Street (cost about $75,000) much enlarged in later yeors: the Fort Street Methodist Church; and several business blocks on Main Street, including the McDonald and Cardona Buildings, demolished some years ago. Independently Mr. Kysor planned extensive repairs and alterations to the old Plaza Church. "Our Lady, Queen of the Angels" dating from the early nineteenth century, built the three-story Cosmopolitan Hotel, later known as "The Lafayette" and other buildings in Los Angeles and environs.
He was married to Clara Perry. They had a son, Charles H. Kysor (1883-1954), who was also an architect.