Hughes Aircraft Company, Processing & Electronics Building, 6775 Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA

Significance: Construction of the original portion of Building 5, the first building of the Culver City complex, was begun in January and completed by the weekend of July 4th, 1941, when the Hughes Aircraft Company was transferred in its entirety from the Grand Central Air Terminal in Glendale and Union Air Terminal in Burbank to the new site. The move consolidated the heretofore fractured organization of the Aircraft Division of the Hughes Tool Company. At the time of the move, Building 5 was the only structure fully completed and it housed all of the company's activities. Construction crews worked two to three eight-hour shifts per day to complete the building by the July 4th deadline imposed by Hughes. The marshy ground of the Ballona wetlands, aggravated by an extremely rainy winter, required driving 40 to 50 foot pilings to support the structure. The building represents the first use by architect H.L. Gogerty of long span arch framing for the plant's industrial buildings - a method of construction revisited in the design of the Cargo Building (Buildings 15 and 16).
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1608
Survey number: HAER CA-174-D
Building/structure dates: 1941 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1959 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1950 Subsequent Work