Petersen Building
A 1929 Art Deco showroom on Hollywood Boulevard, built for Cadillac and shaped by the same firm behind the district’s most theatrical landmarks.
At a glance
Standing at 7001 W. Hollywood Boulevard, the Petersen Building is a two-story commercial structure of 35,003 square feet. Meyer & Holler designed it as a Cadillac dealership. Today it forms part of a protected historic streetscape, its Art Deco lines still legible above the retail bustle below.
History
The building rose in 1929, commissioned as an automobile showroom for Cadillac. Meyer & Holler, the firm behind Hollywood First National and the Chinese and Egyptian theatres, gave it the same confident geometry found across their better-known work. It was less a movie palace than a temple to the car, but no less carefully composed. In 1985 the structure entered the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property within the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District. It changed hands in 1999 for $8.3 million, a sum equivalent to roughly $16 million today. In 2025, Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen acquired the building along with the neighboring Hollywood Galaxy Shopping Center for $69 million, folding it into a new chapter of Hollywood real estate.
What you see
The facade reads as restrained Art Deco. Arched windows punctuate the ground level. A flat roofline carries incised deco detailing across its concrete edge, a quiet signature rather than a shout. The National Register nomination calls it “a good example of an automobile showroom in an upscale retail setting,” and that functional elegance still holds. Nothing about the design competes with the theatrical excess of Meyer & Holler’s cinema work nearby. It was built to sell cars, not spectacle.
Cultural significance
The Petersen Building matters as a survivor of Hollywood Boulevard’s commercial golden age, the everyday counterpart to its famous theatres. It documents how showroom architecture absorbed the same Art Deco vocabulary as the entertainment palaces surrounding it. Its listing within the Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District secures its place in that layered streetscape. The 2025 sale signals renewed private investment in the boulevard’s historic fabric, a reminder that these buildings remain commercially active rather than frozen relics.
Key facts
- Location: 7001 W. Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles
- Built: 1929
- Architects: Meyer & Holler
- Style: Art Deco
- Original use: Cadillac dealership and showroom
- Size: 35,003 square feet (3,251.9 m2)
- Heritage status: Contributing property, Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District, National Register of Historic Places (1985)
- 2025 sale: Acquired by Justin Mateen with the Hollywood Galaxy Shopping Center for $69 million
Practical information & getting there
The building sits directly on Hollywood Boulevard, within easy walking distance of the boulevard’s theatre district. You can reach the area via the Metro Red Line’s Hollywood/Highland station, a short stroll away. As a privately owned commercial property, interior access depends on current tenants; the exterior can be viewed from the sidewalk at any time.
Sources & resources
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