A New Landmark for the Departed: Inside Hollywood Forever’s Five-Story Gower Mausoleum

By Allan R. Ellenberger - The Hollywoodland Revue

Designed by Lehrer Architects LA, in collaboration with Arquitectura y Diseño, the Gower Court Mausoleum marks both an expansion and a declaration: that in a city where land is scarce and history runs deep, even the resting places of the dead must evolve.

Reimagining Space and Memory

Hollywood Forever has always been more than a cemetery — it’s a living museum of Los Angeles history, where the silent film era meets modern rock ’n’ roll. But as the surrounding city grew denser, one fact became impossible to ignore: there was no more room to grow outward.

The solution? Build upward.

The Gower Court Mausoleum was envisioned not as a warehouse of crypts but as a “vertical cemetery”—a structure designed to blend reverence with architecture, function with feeling. Sunlight spills through breezeways, terraces are planted with greenery, and the air moves freely between floors. In the words of architect Michael Lehrer, “This isn’t just a storage facility for the departed. It’s a place for the living to connect with the past while being inspired by their surroundings.”

Form and Function: Building Heavenward

Phase One of the project, completed in late 2024, contains approximately 13,000 interment spaces — a mix of crypts and cremation niches. The long-term vision, however, is far grander: when all phases are complete, the Gower complex could ultimately accommodate upwards of 50,000 individuals, with tens of thousands of niches and crypts expanding along the Gower Street frontage.

Each of the five levels stands about 20 feet high, constructed of reinforced concrete walls up to 18 inches thick. The design features cantilevered volumes that hover above Gower Street, giving the structure a sculptural quality. Between them are open-air terraces, breezeways, and rooftop spaces—a marriage of architecture and landscape. The result is an urban necropolis that feels both monumental and human-scaled, a structure as contemplative as it is commanding.

A Vision in Progress

The current building represents Phase One of a multi-part development. According to planning documents and the Los Angeles Times, additional phases will extend the mausoleum southward, potentially raising total capacity to 52,000 interments. This modular expansion ensures that Hollywood Forever remains viable and relevant for decades to come—an evolving landmark in a city that rarely preserves its past.

In that sense, the Gower Mausoleum is more than a building—it’s a blueprint for the cemetery of the future: vertical, sustainable, and enduring.

Public Response: Reverence and Reflection

The project has drawn wide attention from architects, cultural critics, and the local community.

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) California awarded it a 2025 Merit Award, calling it “a beautiful, sculptural work of architecture and a significant new interpretation of the mausoleum in an urban setting.”

The Los Angeles Times dubbed it “a high-rise for the dead,” quoting Hollywood Forever’s CFO Yogu Kanthiah, who explained, “We’re not going to build more cemeteries in L.A., so we need creative ways to increase burial space.”

Visitors, too, have responded with intrigue and admiration. While mausoleums of this scale can appear imposing, the Gower building’s terraces, greenery, and views — including glimpses of the Hollywood Sign — soften its mass. International design magazines describe it as “a place of reflection and joy,” where architecture and emotion coexist.

Still, it has prompted debate within the funeral industry. Some question how such vertical expansion can preserve the intimacy and solemnity of traditional burial grounds. But for Hollywood Forever, the mission remains clear: to make space, make meaning, and make the future of remembrance sustainable.

A Model for the Modern Cemetery

The Gower Court Mausoleum represents a turning point for how cemeteries adapt in crowded urban centers. Many historic burial grounds from Los Angeles to New York face the same dilemma: a shortage of space and a desire to maintain beauty and dignity.

The Hollywood Forever approach — building upward while opening the experience to light, air, and architectural grace — may well define the next generation of memorial design. Its mix of accessibility, artistry, and practicality has already made it a case study in how to preserve legacy within a modern metropolis.

As design critics have noted, “verticality is inevitable.” Yet when handled with care, as here, it can feel less like limitation and more like elevation — a way of lifting memory closer to the sky.

Final Reflection

For those who cherish Hollywood’s layered history, the Gower Mausoleum tells a story of continuity and innovation. It speaks to the cemetery’s enduring role as both sanctuary and storyteller — where film legends, musicians, and ordinary Angelenos rest side by side, their stories framed by palms, marble, and now, glass and light.

So next time you wander the grounds of Hollywood Forever, glance east toward Gower Street. Amid the flowers and the headstones, you’ll see it rising — a new landmark for the departed, and a promise that in Hollywood, even remembrance continues to reach for the stars.

Your perspective matters — leave a comment and help keep Hollywood’s history a living dialogue.