Columbia Square was designed by Swiss-born architect William Lescaze[1] in the style of International Modernism and built over a year at a cost of two million dollars — more money than had ever been spent on a broadcasting facility.

Lescaze's sweeping streamline motifs, porthole windows and glass brick were true to Modernist design, though CBS President William Paley insisted the Square's form follow function.

In his dedicatory speech, he remarked, "It is because we believe these new Hollywood headquarters, reflecting many innovations of design and acoustics and control, will improve the art of broadcasting that we have built them and are dedicating them here tonight."

Studio A was home to The Silver Theatre, The Swan Show starring George Burns and Gracie Allen, The Lady Esther Screen Guild Players and countless others.

There was nothing comparable to its splendor in New York" says writer-producer Norman Corwin whose most famous broadcast, On a Note of Triumph, originated from the Square on VE Day, 1945.

In early 2009, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission and the City Council designated CBS Columbia Square Studios as a historic-cultural monument.

Musical acts that performed at Columbia Square included Eddie Cantor, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Doris Day and Gene Autry.

Through the facilities of KNX, the Columbia network broadcast big band music from nearby ballrooms including the Hollywood Palladium and the Earl Caroll Theater.

(Ushers would sometimes walk down Sunset Boulevard to NBC's studios at Vine Street to urge audience members to watch a Columbia Square broadcast instead.)

In 2007, KCRW and other public radio stations broadcast "Remembering Columbia Square: A Salute to a Palace of Broadcasting" featuring Norman Corwin, George Burns, Jack Benny, Jim Hawthorne, Janet Waldo, Art Gilmore, Alan Young, Herb Ellis, Art Linkletter, Gil Stratton, Harry Shearer, Marie Wilson, Mel Baldwin and sound effects man Ray Erlenborn.

KNX moved into new studios in the Miracle Mile neighborhood on L.A.'s Wilshire Boulevard which it shares with Entercom Radio stations KFWB, KTWV, and KRTH.

[3] The Square fell into disrepair during the years in which Laurence Tisch chaired CBS, and asbestos problems were cited as a reason to demolish the venue.

It planned to redevelop the 125,000-square-foot (11,600 m2) complex to continue to attract entertainment industry tenants and is considering options that would add some residential units to the office and broadcasting facility.