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Image: courtesy of Tim Griffith
The first phase of a monumental new building at LA's famous Hollywood Forever Cemetery has been unveiled, designed by Lehrer Architects and Arquitectura y Diseño.
Standing five stories and 100 feet above the tourist attraction's famous palm grove, the Gower Court Mausoleum provides space for the deceased to hold some 22,500 crypts, as well as panoramic public views of the city and the Hollywood sign beyond as one of the only true “new landmarks.” I've been coming to Los Angeles lately.
In addition to the crypts covered with Brazilian quartzite stone, the interior of the honeycomb mausoleum includes more than 30,000 niches for urn storage. They are connected to each other via a series of open-air canals. Concrete is the primary construction material, and the building's scale was lightened by a “vertical topographic landscape” created by incorporating stepped garden setbacks that extend 20 feet from the facade.
“This is not just a storage facility for the deceased,” explained founder Michael Lehrer L.A. Times recently. “It's about creating a place for the living to connect with the past while also drawing inspiration from their surroundings.” As Lehrer mentions, the structure's design provides a cohesive connection with Paramount Studios' neighboring soundstages , which form the southern half of the newly revitalized city block.
He worked with his former colleague Robert Sheinberg, the former director in charge, who left the company to found Arquitectura y Diseño (or AyD) in 2021. Lehrer Architects has worked closely with Hollywood Forever since 2013, when it was first conceived as a project that would help extend the cemetery's lifespan for another fifty years.
Studio-MLA's landscape contribution completes the design from the ground floor onwards, offering visitors a lush “reminder of the permanent and the ephemeral” that develops vertically until culminating in the roof garden and promenade leading from the granite block columbarium and information center is surrounded.
Phase 1, which includes 5,000 crypts and 8,000 niches, was completed within 4.5 years. Construction of the second phase will begin in spring 2025, adding an additional 6,500 crypts and another 10,000 niches. Phase 3 follows with 10,000 more crypts and 12,000 niches to complete the 400-foot-long, 160,000-square-foot structure.