Capitol Records Building
Then:
This iconic Hollywood building was designed by Louis Naidorf for Capitol Records, the first major record label on the West Coast. Towering just next to the Hollywood sign, “this is an ultramodern building on Vine street near Hollywood Boulevard, where you had buildings built in the ’20s and ’30s,” according to Wanamaker.
The 13-story tower which was completed in April 1956, looked like a stack of records and became the world’s first circular office building. The Capitol also included eight echo chambers, concrete rooms located 30 feet underground, where famous musicians like Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and the Beach Boys recorded their most famous hits.
Now:
The neighborhood might not be the same today, but the Capitol Records Building is almost unchanged. “Capitol Records has sat in a sea of parking lots since it was built in the 1950s,” says Christy McAvoy, a retired historic preservation consultant and Hollywood Heritage cofounder.
As one of the most recognizable buildings of modern architecture, it underwent a serious restoration process that ended in 2014. “They finally raised the money and [the artists] came back and spruced it up,” Wanamaker recalls. Presently, it is used by popular artists such as Sam Smith, Muse, Imagine Dragons, Justin Timberlake and Katy Perry.
