The building's design is on the graduate school drawings of Lou Naidorf who, as the primary architect, designed the first circular office building when he was 24 years old. The wide curved awnings over windows on each story and the tall spike emerging from the top of the building resembles a stack of records on a turntable with the spindle pointing skyward. The rectangular ground floor is a separate structure, joined to the tower after completion. The 13-story conforms to the zoning height limit in place at the time of its construction. Height restrictions were lifted in 1956. The thirteenth floor of the tower is the "Executive Level" and is represented by an "E" in the building's two elevators.
Notable features
The blinking light atop the tower spells out the word "Hollywood" in Morse code. This was an idea of Capitol's then-president, Alan Livingston, who wanted to advertise Capitol's status as the first record label with a base on the west coast. It was switched on by Leila Morse, granddaughter of Samuel Morse. During 1992, the light blinked "Capitol 50," in honor of the label's fiftieth anniversary. A black-and-white graphic of the building appeared on the albums of many Capitol recording artists, with the phrase, "From the Sound Capitol of the World". In April 2011, Capitol Records and artist Richard Wyatt Jr. restored his Hollywood Jazz Mural on the south wall of the Capitol Records building. Restored in hand-glazed ceramic tile, the mural spans Entitled "Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972", this masterpiece presents "larger than life" images of a number of notable jazz musicians.
Capitol Studios
The building houses the Capitol Studios, a recording facility which includes eight echo chambers engineered by guitarist Les Paul and three main studios, A, B, and C. Frank Sinatra had a close association with the studios, and the Georg NeumannU 47 microphone he carried around with him is there, often used and maintained for studio sessions. The first album recorded in the tower was Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color. In 2012, Studio A received a new AMS Neve 88R mixing console, designed and built for Al Schmitt and Paul McCartney.
Recent history
In September 2006, EMI sold the tower and adjacent properties for US$50 million to New York developer Argent Ventures. The studio claimed that noise from construction of a condominium threatened it, as well as an underground parking lot by building firm Second Street Ventures would have heavy equipment working within of its renowned underground echo chambers, which are themselves over below ground level. In November 2012, Steve Barnett was announced as the new Chairman and CEO of the Capitol Music Group and the company stated his office would be in the building. This coincided with Capitol Music Group becoming part of Universal Music Group, assuring its new parent company two Los Angeles headquarters.
In Earthquake, starring Charlton Heston, an earthquake destroys the building. A clip of this scene is in the pilot episode of Galactica 1980, as Cylon spacecraft fire at the building.
In the 1990 film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, the protagonists climb down the outside structure of the building while fleeing the antagonist's henchman.
In the music video "Closer Than You Know" and "Touch The Sky", Hillsong United performed at the top of the tower.
In the 1994 arcade game Primal Rage, the building appears in ruins.
In the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow, a tornado damages the building.
In the 2004 video game', the building appears in the city of Los Santos as the Blastin' Fools Records Building. The building would also appear in Grand Theft Auto V as the Badger Building.
In the 2005 video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the building appears in the Hollywood level.
In the 2008 television series Life After People, the building collapses after 175 years without maintenance. The echo chambers underneath the buildings survive for years after the main tower collapses.
In the 2008 film Hancock, the title character pierces the building's pinnacle with a car in the opening scene.
In a 2014 episode of the television series Mad Men titled "The Runaways" set in 1969, the building appears in the background as a character makes a call from a telephone booth.
The video to ''Rod Stewarts 2015 song "Love Is" is shot at the top of the Capitol Records building.
In 2019, the building appeared in Lana del Rey's "Doin' Time" music video.
In 2019, the building appeared in Todrick Hall's "Dripeesha" music video.
