Capitol Records Building

This classic Hollywood sight is still making music

Sixty years of age this month, Los Angeles' Capitol Records Building still retains its personality and confidently gazes to the future.

The Design 
While many believe that the building's design is meant to resemble a stack of records, architect Louis Naidorf denies it. Not knowing his client was a record label, Naidorf planned the world's first circular office building for practical reasons, including giving windows to every office. The building is crowned with a spire that blinks "Hollywood" in Morse code and has echo chambers 30 feet underground for recording.

The Artists
Many legendary singers and bands have re corded in the Capital Records Building, including Frank Sinatra and the Beach Boys. The south wall features a mural of jazz musicians to represent Capital Records' work within the field. Today, Capital has Katy Perry, Sam Smith and 5 Seconds of Summer on their label, to name a few.

The Future
Much of the area surrounding the downtown building has remained underdeveloped -- but that will soon change. If plans for a 38- and a 39-story tower go through, the Capital Records Building will be the center of a new Hollywood destination.

Language Lab
architect n.
a person who designs buildings
- Miho Museum was designed by the famous Chinese architect I.M. Pei.
architecture n.
the art or science of designing and creating buildings;
a method or style of building
- Taipei 101 is an amazing piece of architecture.
- The Colosseum in Rome is an example of Roman architecture.

spire n.
a tall, narrow, pointed structure on the top of a building
- The skyscraper's spire is almost five floor high.
- The bell in the spire of the cathedral rings every hour.
- The building's spire was hit by the airplane that crashed.
- church spires

legendary adj.
/ˈlɛʤənˌderi/
very famous or well-known
- The song What a Wonderful World was sung by the legendary Louis Armstrong.
- The movie was adapted from an ancient legendary story.

mural n.
/ˈmjɚrəl/
a usually large painting that is done directly on the surface of a wall
- The huge mural outside the company's building is decorated with paintings made by the children of our staff.
muralist n.
a person who has strong feelings and opinions about what is right and who tries to control the moral behavior of other people
- This muralist spent a whole year finishing this mural of sea creatures.

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