A laboratory on the Hal Roach lot in Culver City is documented for April 1920. Marc Wanamaker, writing for the Culver City Historical Society, lists it beside the administration building on Washington Boulevard, one large open stage, an enclosed stage, a set storage building, and the department bungalows.
The studio stood at 8822 West Washington Boulevard, at the corner of Washington and National. Wanamaker calls the Hal Roach Studios one of Culver City's lost landmarks.
In that account the laboratory belongs to the plant as it stood by April 1920. He also notes a back lot with various types of sets that were used over and over again. That account does not describe any equipment.
For May 1920 he records a pool water tank on the lot and some other departmental buildings. The laboratory is already named in the April list, before that May note. The tank is not described as laboratory equipment.
In 1920, Wanamaker writes, Hal Roach formed a new company called Hal Roach Studios. The laboratory is part of his description of the lot in April 1920.
In 1980, he writes, the site was marked with a historical plaque as one of the most famous and important studios of the city.
Two sentences from the English Wikipedia article Hal Roach Studios, CC BY-SA: Hal Roach Studios, Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
The studio lot, at 8822 Washington Boulevard in Culver City, California, United States, was built in 1920, at which time Rolin was renamed to Hal E. Roach Studios.
In August 1963, the lot was demolished after several auctions and sales of the company's assets.
Sources: Marc Wanamaker, Remembering the Hal Roach Studios, Culver City Historical Society, 1 April 2006.