The Beverly Hills City Council has designated the MCA/Litton Headquarters Complex on 360 North Crescent Drive as a local landmark, placing it on the Beverly Hills Register of Historic Properties. The move, voted on unanimously by the Council on Sept. 21, affords special protections to the building and provides incentives to the owners to preserve it.
The building came into existence in 1938 when Jules Stein, ophthalmologist and renowned talent agent, commissioned Beverly Hills Master Architect Paul Revere Williams to construct a space for his growing firm, Music Corporation of America (MCA). Williams designed an elegant English Georgian Revival complex more suggestive of East Coast old money than Los Angeles’s prevailing, laid back Art Moderne style.
The complex changed hands in 1964 to defense contractor Litton Industries, who reengaged Williams to design a second, larger three-story addition. The complex is currently owned by private equity investment firm Platinum Equity, which, according to city staff, “meticulously maintains the buildings and manicured grounds.”
