Apple Tower Theatre
Owner Apple Design Architect Foster + Partners Architect of Record Gruen and Associates General Contractor Shawmut Historic Contractor Spectra Company Structural Engineer Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger Historic Consultant Historic Resources Group GRFC Subcontractor Moonlight Molds
The Tower Theatre was designed in 1927 by architect Charles Lee (his first theater design), who modeled the interior after the Paris Opera House. It was the first theater in Los Angeles to be wired for talking pictures, as well as the first to have air conditioning. After the theatre’s closure in 1988, it sat abandoned for nearly 30 years. Today, after a 3-year renovation, it serves as the flagship Apple store for Los Angeles. Spectra catalogued, removed and reinstalled the historic plaster ceilings, railings and decorative elements in over 1,200 separate pieces. Spectra also surveyed and rehabilitated the terra-cotta exterior facade, including restoring the previously removed clock tower.
Scope of Work
Adaptive Reuse • Artifact Restoration & Cataloging • Estimating & Value Engineering • Facade Rehabilitation • Materials Restoration • Ornamental Plaster • Preservation Consulting • Self-Perform • Terra-Cotta
