The Hollywood Forever Cemetery Unveils Five-Story Mausoleum

2025 Best of Year Winner for Government/Institutional

Hollywood Forever Cemetery is the final resting place of such movie greats as Judy Garland and Burt Reynolds. But like other cemeteries in dense, urban locales, it was experiencing shrinking space for in-ground burials. So, building up was the solution. The resulting five-story, 25,230-square-foot Gower Mausoleum by Lehrer Architects LA and Arquitectura y Diseño has room for 22,500 stacked crypts and 30,000 niches for cremation urns, now capped by a rooftop chapel. The poured-in-place concrete building is enlivened by a geometric-patterned facade, its cantilevered volumes topped by gardens, helping it blend with the parklike surroundings. Inside, large openings let light into 20-foot-tall breezeways faced with blue and white quartzite. Angular Venetian plaster ceiling soffits bounce around that light while concealing mechanical systems. Overlooks offer views of the Hollywood Hills, San Gabriel Mountains, and Pacific Ocean. This first structure has been well received—spaces on nearly three floors have already been filled—and two more are planned. 

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MICHAEL B. LEHRER; BENJAMIN F. LEHRER; EDAN KADRIBEGOVIC (LEHRER ARCHITECTS LA); ROBERTO SHEINBERG; ALEXANDER CLARK; NICOLE CHIU; VICTOR RODRIGUEZ (AYD).