Fox Plaza (alternatively known as 20th Century Studios Plaza) is a 34-story, skyscraper in Century City,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It is owned by the

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

–based

Irvine Company The Irvine Company LLC is an American private company focused on real estate development. It is headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with a large portion of its operations centered in and around Irvine, California, a planned city of more ...

History

Completed in 1987, the building's

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

were Scott Johnson, Bill Fain, and William L. Pereira. Fox Plaza is the last building that Pereira designed before his death in 1985, and he did not live to see it open. Former

American President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Ronald Reagan had his offices on the 34th floor of the building for several years after leaving public office. The 34th floor is now occupied by 20th Century Studios.

Design

Outer exterior of the building contains rust-red granite and glass panels. The Fox plaza building features a unique HVAC system where a large vertical air shaft is located in the core of the building. The air shaft begins below the building, as an outdoor, cooler air intake pushing air to each floor's fan room, and on the roof is located an exhaust for stale air. Such system design utilizes stack effect.

Filming location

In a 2018 tour for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', the

chief engineer A chief engineer, commonly referred to as "ChEng" or "Chief", is the most senior engine officer of an engine department on a ship, typically a merchant ship, and holds overall leadership and the responsibility of that department..Chief engineer ...

of the building noted how the Fox Plaza has a large number of redundancies in its design, and he speculates that it's because it was intended to be used as a filming location. The building has been featured in at least four major motion pictures released by Fox. In the film ''

Die Hard ''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan, with a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. Based on the 1979 novel '' Nothing Lasts Forever'', by Roderick Thorp, it stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Al ...

'' it portrayed the fictional Nakatomi Plaza (also known as Nakatomi Tower), a building owned by a fictional Japanese conglomerate. The damaged version of the tower was made via a scale model special effect. The plaza and a neighbouring building are the main setting for the 1994 comedy ''

Airheads ''Airheads'' is a 1994 American comedy film written by Rich Wilkes, directed by Michael Lehmann, and starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Ernie Hudson, Michael McKean, Judd Nelson, Michael Richards, Amy Locane and ...

'' where fictional radio station KPPX is located. Fox Plaza was also one of the buildings brought down at the end of ''

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is d ...

''. The building is also used for the corporate offices of Chimera Gas in the surrealistic road movie ''

Motorama The General Motors Motorama was an auto show staged by GM from 1949 to 1961. These automobile extravaganzas were designed to whet public appetite and boost automobile sales with displays of fancy concept cars and other special or halo models. Mo ...

'' and is also portrayed as the headquarters for Spencer Publications on the soap opera ''

The Bold and the Beautiful ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' (often referred to as ''B&B'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. It premiered on March 23, 1987, as a sister show to the Bells' other soap opera ''The Yo ...

''. The building plays an important role in the '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' episode " 99", in which detective

Jake Peralta ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is an American sitcom which premiered in September 2013 on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox, and later moved to NBC. The show revolves around the Detective#United States, detective squad of the fictional 99th Precinct of the ...

insists on visiting the building due to its role in ''Die Hard'' and causes his squad to miss their return flight to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The exterior of the building was used in the 1987 Charlie Sheen film '' No Man's Land'', in the 2001 episode of ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'', "

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

", and in the 1989 film ''

Lethal Weapon 2 ''Lethal Weapon 2'' is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Joss Ackland, Derrick O'Connor and Patsy Kensit. It is a sequel to the 1987 film ''Lethal Weapon'' ...

''.

References

External links

Fox Plaza Century City
at the

{{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in Los Angeles 20th Century Studios Mass media company headquarters in the United States William Pereira buildings Century City, Los Angeles Office buildings completed in 1987 Die Hard

History

Design

Filming location

See also

References

External links