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Your Dream Tower


NissanvilleTitans

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10 hours ago, dmillsphoto said:

Along the same lines as the Book and Guardian in Detroit, I'd love to have the LeVeque Tower from Columbus. The massing at the bottom and the art moderne details all the way up until the top becomes a mix of really old and new, which I think would play nice with the Parthenon (albeit the top of the LeVeque is more Byzantine/middle-eastern). I think it's a cool and underrated US building.

Having spent 10 years in Columbus during my youth, I was fascinated with this beauty.  It was the only skyscraper in the city for nearly five decades, and truly dominated the "skyline" (or lack thereof)...kind of like L&C Tower---but 30 years older (it was erected in 1927) .

A couple of fun tidbits:

- It has a small, octagon shaped observation deck on the 44th floor (or at least it did years ago) that had 24 large windows looking out in every direction, surrounded with those four distinctive carved turrets.   At one time you could even climb a ladder to the outdoor circular balcony on the 46th floor (although this was closed by sixties).

- When it was completed in 1927, it was the fifth tallest building in the world.

- At 555 ft. 5 inches, it was specifically designed to be 5 inches taller than the Washington Monument. 

- The original peak was designed to dock passenger zeppelins, although I don't believe it was actually ever utilized for that. 

- Besides the massive office space, it also housed a 600 room luxury hotel for decades.

- Additionally, the magnificent 2,827 seat Palace Theater is also part of the structure.

- The building went through many financial hardships during its 92 year history.  Much of the time, an average of 30% of the office space was empty.  By 2012 it had reached 43%. Sometimes it was jokingly referred-to as the "IOU Tower."  It was simply too ambitious for the market size when originally built, and then when newer towers started getting built around it in the 70s onward, it was hard to compete. 

- Things were really looking dire in the early 2000s, but finally some wealthy developers got the vision to invest in it heavily with massive renovations and refurbishments, and in the past 5 years or so it has been thriving. It is currently mixed-use with 160,000 sq. ft. of office space, a 150 room boutique hotel, and 19 floors of upscale residential, along with restaurants, and the Palace Theater still intact and quite active.

More here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeVeque_Tower

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First National Tower in Omaha with a slightly better street-level activation. This building alone transformed one whole section of downtown into a very urban feel. I think this would even fit on the parking lot fronting 4th Avenue South (adjacent to Schermerhorn). Can you imagine the battle it would take to get the "preservation" crown to approve this one so close to LoBro? 

45 floors (office)

634' tall

730K s.f.

From Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_National_Bank_Tower

Courtesy JonClee86 (wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_National_Bank_Tower#/media/File:Omaha_First_National_Tower_2010.jpg

Omaha_First_National_Tower_2010.jpg

Courtesy CollinUlness (wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_National_Bank_Tower#/media/File:First_National_Tower.jpg

First National Tower.jpg

Edited by MLBrumby
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2 hours ago, e-dub said:

Damn, I've never heard of that one. She's a beauty, though!

Right?  She'd be a superstar if built in practically any other city at 994 feet tall, but in Chicago, she's just another building, unfortunately!

44 minutes ago, TNinVB said:

I’ve always loved that building and the one next to it with the slanted roof on the front side. I wish I knew the name of it. 

I like that one too... it's called the Smurfit Stone Building... or at least it was... I think it had a name change recently.  

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I'm afraid I feel disappointed with the progress of architecture in the US compared with Asian and Middle East cultures.  I adore period design that anchors our culture and appreciate the tremendous growth of Nashville, but other than a few interesting proposals, design is a rehash of boxy buildings, albeit well designed and appropriate.    I would like a few buildings more 21st century (I don't mean contorted and bizarre like Gehry)  There was one on skyscraperpage I liked  a lot so I will post it here.    With modern tech able to print materials in any form, I hope to see more like it proposed, even in Nashville.

plexus_08.jpg

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22 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

The height is nice but really unremarkable in design.

With all their money, they could have knocked it out of the park.

Some people say that here in Charlotte (not me) about its more traditional design currently 4th tallest building  in NC but we have another new taller tower being built for Duke Energy at 41 stories around 650 feet which has a slanted roof design on top.  Really nice looking.  Plus that Bank of America Tower will be surrounded by a forest of towers 2nd one is already under way but many more planned.  

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7 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

Some people say that here in Charlotte (not me) about its more traditional design currently 4th tallest building  in NC but we have another new taller tower being built for Duke Energy at 41 stories around 650 feet which has a slanted roof design on top.  Really nice looking.  Plus that Bank of America Tower will be surrounded by a forest of towers 2nd one is already under way but many more planned.  

 

giphy.gif

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On 1/9/2019 at 6:12 PM, BnaBreaker said:

This is by no means my favorite building in the world or anything, but it's one I am quite fond of here in Chicago and I don't think it gets nearly as much attention it deserves due to it's tall neighbors, even though it's nearly 1,000 feet tall in it's own right.  I'm talking about Two Prudential Plaza in Chicago:
two-prudential-plaza-chicago.jpg

This one has always been in my top 5 favorites worldwide.

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31 minutes ago, Bark At The Sun said:

This is kind of a little off the topic.  Was in St. Augustine/Butler Beach area last week for a family get together and this was across the street from the house we rented.  Someone got drunk, had a dream and built their tower.............or tree.

I'm more concerned about the build quality on the deck to nowhere.

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