SOME DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF MODERN TRUST EXCEPTIONAL SAFEGUARDS PROVIDED BY TITLE INSURANCE Twenty years ago, in Los Angeles county, California, the Title Insurance and Trust Company of Los Angeles inaugurated the practice of handling real estate transactions in escrow in that section. It has since come to be the general business custom in Southern California, and fully 95 per cent. of all real estate transfers or loans on real estate in Los Angeles County are so handled. The greater part of such business, because of superior service and facilities, comes to the Escrow Department of Title Insurance and Trust Company. Some comprehension of the extent and number of the escrow transactions annually handled by this department may be had when it is known that there are but two Recorders in the United States that, year in and year out, record more transactions than the Recorder of Los Angeles County, those being the Recorders in Chicago and New York. To handle so large a volume of business in the manner most convenient for the public, the Escrow Department was established on the street floor of the building, and the utilization of the space carefully planned to facilitate the handling of the work. This department is beautifully and artistically finished in mahogany and white marble, and presents an impressive appearance, quite in keeping with the nature of the business transacted within its walls. Annually many millions of dollars' worth of real property changes hands through this department, and the service rendered safeguards both the buyer and the seller. Strangers invariably marvel that so much space and such elaborate and expensive ARCHIVES BUILDING OF THE TITLE INSURANCE AND TRUST COMPANY OF LOS ANGELES From the records it safeguards could be established the title to any real property in Los Angeles County. Should the public records of Los Angeles County be accidentally destroyed, the contents of this building would at once become of inestimable value to the property owners of the County. Incidentally, it is a splendid example of ancient Egyptian architecture equipment, as well as a large organization, are required to handle the business of other people. It is because there is a public demand for the service by reason of the effectual protection it affords the unwary and inexperienced against the wiles of the real estate swindler. Hundreds have been saved from loss, and the doors of the State penitentiary have closed upon a number of criminals whose nefarious transactions were brought to light by the acid test the service imposes supplemented by the keen intuitions of the officers of this department. The Title Department which contains the company's records of real estate titles compiled slowly and carefully through many years of steady growth and accretion, is located on the top floor of the building, where the most favorable conditions prevail for the careful and painstaking work required in the preparation of the several forms of guarantees and policies of title insurance issued by the company and the maps accompanying and illustrating them. The data this plant contains is of inestimable value to the people of Los Angeles County, and, to insure against its destruction during the years by accident or overt act, a duplicate of the entire plant is housed in a specially constructed archives building, situated in the outskirts of the city. This building of brick and reinforced THE HOME OF TITLE INSURANCE AND TRUST concrete with walls two feet thick, set in the COMPANY OF LOS ANGELES CB BANK OF NEW The Chemical National Bank of New York Established 1824 Capital, Surplus and Undivided Profits $11,000,000 The First Bank on Broadway IN 1824, when the Chemical National Bank first threw open its doors at 216 Broadway, opposite St. Paul's Church, financiers and others freely expressed the opinion that it was going too far uptown. Tradition, then as now, made Wall Street the center of finance. In spite of this apparently radical departure, the Chemical National Bank at once established a reputation for conservative banking practice a reputation which has placed it among the leading financial institutions of the country. The officers of the Bank will be glad to meet or correspond with those who contemplate opening new accounts or making a change in their banking relations. Interest paid on balances of banks, time deposits and special and reserve accounts. middle of a three acre tract, is believed to be impervious to conflagration, explosion, earthquake or other general calamity, short of a hostile bombardment, that might overtake the city. From the modest beginning in 1893, with a paid-in capital of $300,000, the cash resources and total assets of Title Insurance and Trust Company have grown, until now it has paid in capital and surplus of $2,400,000 and total assets of over $35,000,000. It succeeded to the title business and plants of the pioneer companies, the Los Angeles Abstract Company and the Abstract and Title Insurance Company of Los Angeles, and began business in the Abstract Block, at the northwest corner of Franklin and New High streets. This original building was enlarged in 1905, but it soon became inadequate for the proper handling of the company's rapidly increasing business, and in April, 1912, the company moved into its present home, the modern office building at the corner of Fifth and Spring streets, Los Angeles, which bears its name. It employs approximately 300 allotted on the Mezzanine Floor, and its arrangement was planned to meet the special necessities of the business of that department. The growth of this department even now demands more room, and provision for expansion has already been made. The officers and directors of the Title Insurance and Trust Company, most of whom have been in office since the organization of the company, are as follows: Officers: William H. Allen, Jr., president; O. F. Brant, vice-president and manager; M. S. Hellman, vice-president; H. W. O'Melveney, vice-president; L. J. Beynon, vice-president; O. P. Clark, secretary and treasurer; W. B. Brown, assistant secretary; E. L. Farmer, assistant secretary; R. R. Thompson, assistant secretary; N. W. Thompson, title officer and assistant manager; J. H. Coverley, trust officer; T. A. Simpson, asst. trust officer. Directors: William H. Allen, Jr., O. F. Brant, O. P. Clark, M. S. Hellman, William H. Burnham, William R. Staats, H. W. O'Melveney, W. M. Caswell, L. J. Beynon, Henry R. Robinson, H. C. Allen. The will of the late Col. Oliver H. Payne provides for cash bequests of over $9,000,000, to numerous educational and charitable institutions. |