At the turn of the 20th century Los Angeles was an Anglo-American city, but Susana Machado Bernard (1839-1907)—a Spanish-speaking, Mexican-Californian—was just becoming active in the boomtown's business affairs. After her husband’s death in 1889, while raising eight children she started a cattle business called the S.M. Bernard Company and improved her real estate holdings. Susana hired architect John Parkinson to add a third story and elevator to the Natick House, an office building just a block from the future site of Los Angeles City Hall which Parkinson’s firm would later design. Parkinson also designed a warehouse for Susana on Los Angeles Street which she then leased, and in 1902 she and her family moved into 845 South Lake Street, an eclectic revival mansion for which she commissioned Parkinson. Today, the National Register-listed house is a shelter for undocumented youth. Photo credit: Seaver Center for Western History Research, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History