Where is nakatomi building

In , Spyros Skouras, the head of the ailing Fox Studios, was looking for new ways to make money. According to the Los Angeles Times :.

William Zeckendorf Sr. While Century City had developed into a convenient, upscale commercial center by the s, it still needed a signature architectural achievement.

In the early s, he decided to build a signature skyscraper in Century City, which would perfectly encapsulate the bigger-is-better business ethos of the decade. The failing firm of the prolific modernist architect William Pereira designer of such iconic buildings as the TransAmerica Pyramid in San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was tapped to design the massive tower.

In increasingly ill-health, Pereira hired two young Harvard graduates— Scott Johnson and William Fain —and quickly gave them immense responsibilities. In a interview with the LA Times , Johnson recalled the chaos he encountered when he took the job in The good news was that a month earlier the firm had won the commission to design a skyscraper in Century City for wealthy oilman Marvin Davis, then the owner of 20th Century Fox.

The bad news was that the firm seemed to be sinking faster than Johnson had been told. He was not sure the firm would stay in business long enough to finish Fox Plaza for Davis. Much to the consternation of older members of the firm, Johnson and Fain were handpicked by Pereira to lead it into the future.

The story high-rise was designed with executive egos in mind. According to USA Today, corner offices were constructed on every floor, instead of the customary four.

When Fox Plaza debuted in the fall of , the reviews were mixed. Not another boxy, boring building in the severe International style, the Fox Plaza is clad in pink-toned granite and gray tinted glass and tilted and angled at the upper floors to subtly reflect light. The building, styled by R. Scott Johnson of Pereira Associates in an updated Moderne fashion, looks good, especially at a distance and when compared to most of the other office towers in the area.

Even the garage with its banded concrete block and arched entry is distinctive looking. It played the part of the fictitious Nakatomi Plaza in Die Hard , the first and by most accounts best of the Die Hard series, and served as a location for numerous other Fox films. The faceting reaches its most complex point at the top of the tower, which features a series of stepped volumes. Fox Plaza is an excellent example of a Late Modern design that reinvents the character of an earlier style without becoming a parody of it.

The Los Angeles Conservancy is a c 3 nonprofit organization. Photo by Tristan Reville on Flickr. You are here Home Explore L. Historic Places. Before its starring role as Nakatomi Plaza in the Bruce Willis smash hit "Die Hard," Fox Plaza was better known as one of the most architecturally appealing buildings to rise in the city during the s. Key Information Architect:. Walking around this building, you get an appreciation not just for the impressive location shooting the film did, but how the film, and the building, have endured for all these years.

Once the tour was over, we were then treated to something maybe even more special. A screening of Die Hard from the parking lot of the building.

And, as you may expect, the film still holds up as one of the coolest action movies of all time. For a reminder of the wonder that is Die Hard , check out the 30th anniversary Blu-ray and 4K. The A. By Germain Lussier. Shop at Amazon. The most important monument in all of America!