Los Angles may be close to loosing a land mark. In a city where almost nothing is old and a general sense of history is lacking, Capitol Studios is under threat. The Capitol Tower was designed by architect Welton Becket and opened in 1956 at 1730 Vine Street. A developer has purchased the land next door and intends to build a 16 floor condominium high rise, complete with underground parking. That subterranean parking would only be 18 feet away from the legendary echo chambers. The construction would make the chambers and studios unusable, at least temporarily. Of more concern is that the traffic in the garage might make them permanently useless. These are the very echo chambers and studios used on recordings by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and countless others.
The builders originally went to great lengths to make the studio as acoustically isolated from the surrounding as possible. The rectangular first floor that houses the studios is actually a separate structure, joined to the tower after completion. The exterior walls are 10 inch thick concrete with a 1 inch air gap separating the outer structure from the studio
Los Angles may be close to loosing a land mark. In a city where almost nothing is old and a general sense of history is lacking, Capitol Studios is under threat. The Capitol Tower was designed by architect Welton Becket and opened in 1956 at 1730 Vine Street. A developer has purchased the land next door and intends to build a 16 floor condominium high rise, complete with underground parking. That subterranean parking would only be 18 feet away from the legendary echo chambers. The construction would make the chambers and studios unusable, at least temporarily. Of more concern is that the traffic in the garage might make them permanently useless. These are the very echo chambers and studios used on recordings by Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, The Beach Boys, Ray Charles, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and countless others.
The builders originally went to great lengths to make the studio as acoustically isolated from the surrounding as possible. The rectangular first floor that houses the studios is actually a separate structure, joined to the tower after completion. The exterior walls are 10 inch thick concrete with a 1 inch air gap separating the outer structure from the studio