Architect William Pereira had gone back and forth with president William Banowsky about the design of Pepperdine's theme tower. The two men agreed about the basics: a 125-foot tall tower (to rival Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer) atop the most prominent hill near the entrance to the Malibu campus. But that is where their agreements ended.¹

Pereira preferred an obelisk, to complement his Mediterranean-styled plans for the campus's buildings. Banowsky preferred a cross to honor Pepperdine's Christian heritage. Pereira thought a cross would be trite. Banowsky thought an obelisk would look too much like the Washington Monument.¹

The compromise was proposed by Pereira, whose now familiar design features a tiled cross embedded in an obelisk that is split at the base and tapers toward a pointed tip. Pereira called Banowsky at 5:30am on April Fool's Day to announce his plan.¹

Pereira's love of the obelisk can also be seen in his design for the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, which was completed in 1972.¹