# The story of Florence Casler

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2019-04-10

architecture, buffalo, curbed, curbed-longform, design, development, florence-casler, longform, los-angeles, new-york, ontario, real-estate, real-estate-developer, story, welland

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Curbed has a section on their website dedicated to "deep dives on cities, architecture, design, real estate, and urban planning." It is called [Longform](https://www.curbed.com/longform). And they have some great stories, including [this one](https://la.curbed.com/2015/3/12/9983632/florence-casler-developer-downtown-los-angeles) on "_the female powerhouse \[_[_Florence Casler_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Casler)_\] who developed 1920s Downtown LA_."

Florence was born in 1869 in Welland, Ontario, about 25 kilometers south of Niagara Falls. She married an American -- a plumber -- and eventually settled in Buffalo, New York. After her husband left to pursue riches in the gold mines, she became a licensed plumber and took over the business.

Eventually this love of plumbing grew into a love of building, and somehow she found herself, with her daughters, in Los Angeles at the beginning of the 20th century.

By the 1920s, she had become a dominant force in the real estate business. Some 60 buildings are credited to Florence and she is thought to be largely responsible for ushering in a new era of multifamily apartments in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, many of her buildings have since been demolished.

As one of [the first women in Los Angeles](https://planning.lacity.org/StaffRpt/CHC/5-6-08/CHC-2008-1181.pdf) to head a development and/or construction business, I think this is a wonderful story worth telling. For the full Curbed article, [click here](https://la.curbed.com/2015/3/12/9983632/florence-casler-developer-downtown-los-angeles).

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/the-story-of-florence-casler)*