The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission Thursday approved a recommendation to designate the former Sparkletts Bottling Plant in Eagle Rock as a historic-cultural monument.
The commission voted unanimously on the designation for the property at 4500 E. Lincoln Ave., a two-story industrial building constructed in 1929 that served as the longtime home of the Sparkletts bottled water company.
Sparkletts expanded rapidly in its early years, growing from a small operation with a handful of delivery trucks to a major regional supplier of bottled water.
“The plant would utilize brass pipes that could pump 237,600 gallons of per day from the natural well below the facility and directly into sanitized glass bottles,” according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. “Bottles could be shipped to any city between Santa Barbara and Mexico at the time.”
“The architect of the plant, Richard D. King, designed the facility in the Moorish Revival style and the building was branded as an `oasis in a desert,”’ the organization added.
The Conservancy said it supports the historic-cultural monument designation.
The facility operated as a bottling plant until 2025 and also housed the company’s headquarters for decades before it relocated to Pasadena in 1991.
City officials said the building is significant as an early example of industrial bottling operations in Los Angeles and for its role in the growth of a regional brand that became widely recognized throughout Southern California.
The designation is expected to be discussed by the Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee and then to the full City Council.