- For the theme park in France, see Walt Disney Studios Park
The Seven Dwarves Building at the Walt Disney Studios The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California serves as the international headquarters for media conglemorate The Walt Disney Company.
Designed primarily by Kem Weber under the supervision of Walter E. Disney and his brother Roy, the Disney staff began the move from the old studio at Hyperion Avenue in Los Angeles on December 24, 1939. The buildings are the only studios to survive the Golden Age of filming. The Walt Disney Company is the last remaining Big Ten company to remain independent from a mother company. The Studios are also the only major film/animation studio not to run backlot tours.
The Walt Disney Studios was originally designed around the animation process, with the large Animation building in the center of the campus, with adjacent buildings for the story department, the music department, the ink-and-paint depatments, and the other various functions of the studio. Both overground walkways and underground tunnels connected the buildings, and the campus also included a movie theatre and a number of soundstages. The Disney feature The Reluctant Dragon, starring Robert Benchley, served as a tour of the then-new studio, which was also frequently seen and toured on the various Walt Disney television programs.
In 1986, after the corporate restructuring of Walt Disney Productions into The Walt Disney Company, the buildings were remodeled to accomodate more live-action production space and administrative offices. The Studios are now made up of three main buildings and around ten soundstages and office buildings. The Art Deco-style Animation building now houses the offices of CEO Michael Eisner, COO Robert A. Iger and President George Mitchell, as well as the Board of Directors. It also houses offices for members of Senior Management, such as Andy Bird, head of Walt Disney International, and Jay Rasulo, President of Disney Parks and Resorts.
During the restructuring, the animation facilities were spun off to officially create Walt Disney Feature Animation as a subsidiary of the company, and its operations were moved to the Air Way warehouse in Glendale. In 1995, a new Animation building was completed, across the street from the main lot. The new studio is a colourful piece of architecture, adorned by a giant Sorceror's Hat, which once housed of the office of Roy E. Disney, former head of WDFA. The third main building is only a few years old, and is the most dramatic. Housing the secondary offices of Senior Management and the conference rooms, the Seven Dwarves Building has a stunning fascia of the seven dwarves holding up the roof of the building.
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