"Binoculars "
- Architect
- Frank Gehry
- Year
- 2001
- Style
- Postmodernism
- City
- Los Angeles, CA
The Binoculars Building is a Frank Gehry-designed office building at 340 Main Street in Venice, built in 1991 for the advertising agency Chiat/Day and now part of Google's Los Angeles campus. Its street facade is dominated by a giant pair of binoculars, a public artwork called Giant Binoculars designed by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, which straddles both the pedestrian and parking-garage entrances. It is individually designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #656.
the building
Giant Binoculars entrance. The building's defining feature is the Oldenburg and van Bruggen sculpture that gives it its name: a pair of oversized binoculars spanning the facade, with the parking garage entrance running directly between the two telescopes.
A delayed opening. The 75,000-square-foot building was delayed for a few years after hazardous materials were discovered on the building site and had to be removed.
A Google campus. Google became the building's tenant in 2011 and later added two neighboring buildings as part of a larger expansion establishing its Los Angeles employment presence.
the style
The Binoculars Building is a work of postmodern novelty architecture, its giant Oldenburg-and-van-Bruggen binoculars turning the building's entrance into a piece of public sculpture and one of the most recognizable landmarks along Main Street in Venice.
More on Postmodernismthe architect
Frank Gehry (1929-2025) was a Canadian-American architect, born in Toronto.
More on Frank Gehrysignificance
The Binoculars Building is individually designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #656, designated October 14, 1998.
more by Frank Gehry
nearby
- Horatio West Court
- Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome
- Sovereign Hotel
- Gehry Residence
- Case Study House #9 - John Entenza House
- Case Study House #8 - The Eames House and Studio and Grounds