Pillar of Pepperdine
Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends.
The monumental cross that warmly greets Pepperdine community members, friends, and guests alike is called the Phillips Theme Tower, a structure that captures the University’s fervent spiritual focus present throughout the Malibu campus.
The vast tower is also an illustrious landmark abundant with rich institutional history and little-known fun facts shared here.
- Construction of the tower was completed in 1973
- The light inside the cross has been lit only twice in 44 years
- The cross is 125 feet high and 345 feet above sea level
- Its location is two miles from the Pacific Ocean
- It was designed by famed architect William Pereira
- It was a gift from the B. D. Phillips Foundation
- It is programmed to chime 10,000 times a year
- The structure took over 2,000 hours to complete