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Biography
for|the Pere Ubu compilation|Terminal Tower (album)Infobox building|name = Terminal Tower|image = Terminaltower1.jpg|image_size = 250px|caption = The Terminal Tower complex in 1987|location = 50 Public Square Cleveland, Ohio|latd = 41| latm = 29| lats = 54| latNS = N|longd = 81| longm = 41| longs = 38| longEW = W|iso_region = US-OH|coordinates_display= title|status = Completed|start_date = 1926|completion_date =|est_completion = 1928|opening = June 28, 1930|building_type = Commercial offices|antenna_spire = convert|235|m|abbr=on|roof = convert|216|m|abbr=on|top_floor = 52|floor_count =|elevator_count =|cost = $179 million|floor_area = convert|577000|sqft|abbr=on|architect = Graham, Anderson, Probst & White |structural_engineer= Henry Jouett|main_contractor =|developer = Van Sweringen brothers |owner = Forest City Enterprises |management =|references = emporis|121783skyscraperpage|1954structurae|s0024672The Terminal Tower is a landmark skyscraper located on Public Square in Downtown Cleveland|downtown Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland , Ohio . It was built during the skyscraper boom of the 1920s and 1930s, and was the second- List of tallest buildings in the world|tallest building in the world when it was completed. The Terminal Tower stood as the tallest building in North America outside of New York City from its completion in 1930 until 1964. It is part of the Tower City Center mixed-use development, and its major tenants include Forest City Enterprises (corporate headquarters and current building owner) and Riverside Company .cite web |url= http://www.forestcity.net/properties/work/office_buildings/Pages/terminal_tower.aspx |title=Terminal Tower |accessdate=2010-09-29 |publisher= Forest City Enterprises
Architecture
Built for United States dollar|$ 179 million ($2.5 billion in 2010 dollars) by the Van Sweringen brothers , the tower was to serve as an office building atop the city's new train station|rail station , the Cleveland Union Terminal . Originally planned to be 14 stories, the structure was expanded to 52 floors with a height of convert|708|ft|m and rests on convert|280|ft|m|adj=on caissons. Designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White , the tower was modeled after the Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts New York Municipal Building by McKim, Mead, and White . The Terminal Tower opened in 1928, two years before the entire Union Terminal complex was complete, and would remain the tallest building in the world outside of New York City until the completion of the main building of Moscow State University in Moscow in 1953. The Terminal Tower would continue as the tallest building in North America outside of New York City until the Prudential Tower|Prudential Center in Boston, Massachusetts was completed in 1964. The building's height allowed radio station WHK to place antenna (radio)|antennas on the building to increase range of the 1420& nbsp;kHz signal.
In the 1980s, a plan to build a taller building than the Terminal Tower was put forward, but was rejected by city officials who wanted to keep the Terminal Tower as the city's tallest building. The building, the BP Building , was scaled down, and the Terminal Tower remained the tallest building in Cleveland until the completion of Key Tower in 1991.
Observation deck
On a clear day, visitors on the observation deck can see convert|30|mi|km from downtown Cleveland.cite web |url= http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2541288-cleveland_tours-i |title=Cleveland Recommended Tours |accessdate=2008-06-15 |publisher=Yahoo& #33; Travel
On August 26, 1976, gunman Ashby Leach stormed a Chessie System conference room on the 42nd floor.cite book|last=Hunt|first=Andrew E. |authorlink= Andrew Hunt (historian) |title=The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War |date= 2001-05-01, copyright 1999 |publisher= New York University|New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-3581-7|oclc=40848421|pages=182–183|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=3AhGjLUf8SYC& lpg=PA183& dq=%22Ashby%20Leach%22& pg=PA183#v=onepage& q=%22Ashby%20Leach%22& f=false|accessdate=2010-09-28 |laysummary= http://best-websites-to-download-free-ebooks.blogspot.com/2011/02/turning-history-of-vietnam-veterans.html Leach, who was disgruntled with Chessie System 's decision not to pay into a G.I. Bill fund that would have increased his wages and benefits during his apprenticeship with the company, held thirteen hostages before his arrest. He was subsequently jailed for three months pending trial, before being acquitted of kidnapping and convicted for assault, extortion and carrying an illegal weapon.cite journal|last=Joy|first=Ted|title=The Siege of Terminal Tower|journal=Mother Jones Magazine|year=1977|month=June|pages=21–25, 58–59|url= http://books.google.com/books? id=qeYDAAAAMBAJ& lpg=PA59& dq=%22Ashby%20Leach%22& pg=PA21#v=onepage& q=%22Ashby%20Leach%22& f=false|accessdate=28 September 2010 Upon his release, he embarked on a speaking tour for the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War . After the hostage incident, direct access to the floor was removed. When Chessie left the building, the observation deck reopened.citation needed|date=June 2008 Following the September 11, 2001 attacks , the observation deck was again closed to the public. In 2007, a proposal was brought to Forest City to reopen the deck. The proposal included a renovation of the deck and the addition of an express elevator to take visitors to it. This was to be done after the upper floors were renovated and the scaffolding removed.
To reach the observation deck prior to its closure, visitors had to take an elevator to the 33rd floor and transfer to another elevator to reach the 42nd floor. The observation deck was open only on weekends, to prevent disruption to the law firm that has offices on the 33rd floor.
In 2010, Forest City Enterprises finished renovating the complex's elevators, upper floors, and spire. The Observation deck reopened on July 10, 2010cite news |first=John |last=Petkovic |coauthors= |title=Terminal Tower observation deck reopens to the public |url= http://www.cleveland.com/goingout/index.ssf/2010/07/terminal_tower_observation_dec.html |work= The Plain Dealer |publisher= |date=2010-07-09 |accessdate=2010-07-11 cite news |first=Lynn |last=Ischay |coauthors= |title=Gallery: Terminal Tower observation deck reopens |url= http://photos.cleveland.com/4501/gallery/terminal_tower_observation_deck_reopens/index.html |work= The Plain Dealer |publisher= |date=2010-07-11 |accessdate=2010-07-13 for a limited period, with plans to expand public access.cite news |first=Robert L. |last=Smith |coauthors= |title=Hundreds savor the view and the memories from Terminal Tower's observation deck |url= http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/08/hundreds_savor_the_view_and_th.html |work= The Plain Dealer |publisher= |date=2010-08-01 |accessdate=2010-08-21 " http://downtowncleveland.org/blog/index.php/2010/06/terminal-tower-observation-deck-to-open-this-summer/ Terminal Tower Observation Deck to open this Summer". Downtown Cleveland Alliance , 2010-06-28.
External lighting
The Terminal Tower was lit when it opened in 1930. A strobe light on top of the tower rotated 360 degrees. It helped ships in Cleveland's port and airplane pilots landing at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport . In the 1960s, the strobe was retired and replaced with conventional aircraft warning lights . The tower only once went dark, during the Northeast Blackout of 2003 .
The Terminal Tower is lit in a golden color at night, but for special occasions it is lit in seasonal colors (e.g., red and green during the Christmas holiday season). After the September 11, 2001 attacks , the building was lit in red, white, and blue. The colored lighting is accomplished with a Light Emitting Diode lighting system.
The Terminal Tower is lit like New York City's Empire State Building . Many Cleveland social and medical groups light the Terminal for their causes. In February, the Terminal is red for the American Heart Association Go Red for Women campaign. The Terminal has been bathed in blue for Autism Awareness. Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Also some of Cleveland's ethnic groups have had the Terminal lit in their ethnic colors. The Terminal goes Green on Saint Patricks Day . On Polish Constitution Day Usually May 3, Cleveland's Pol-Am community lights the Terminal in red and white for Poland . When Bishop Anthony Pilla was made President of the USNCCB-or the Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1995, the Terminal was lit in red, green, and white by Cleveland's Italian American community.
In popular culture
During February in 2003-2006, the Terminal Tower hosted an annual "Tackle the Tower" stairclimb charity race from the Tower City mall concourse to the observation deck.
The Terminal Tower appeared in the climactic scene of the 2001 movie Proximity (film)|Proximity , starring Rob Lowe . Lowe's character led his pursuers from the Tower City (RTA Rapid Transit station)|RTA rapid station to the shopping concourse.
The tower is featured in the films The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Deer Hunter (1978), A Christmas Story (1983), and Major League (film)|Major League (1989).
Cleveland-based art-punk band Pere Ubu (band)|Pere Ubu titled their 1985 compilation of early singles and B-sides Terminal Tower (album)|Terminal Tower .
The tower can be seen in some scenes from Spider-Man 3 (2007) and The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers (2012), parts of which were filmed in Cleveland. It is also seen in parts of Welcome to Collinwood (2002) and The Oh in Ohio (2006).
On August 20, 1938 Cleveland Indians season|1938 , as part of a publicity stunt by the Come to Cleveland Committee, Cleveland Indians players Hank Helf and Frankie Pytlak , successfully caught baseballs dropped from the tower by Indians' third baseman Ken Keltner . http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119227/index.htm When Baseballs Fell From On High, Henry Helf Rose To The Occasion , by Bruce Anderson, Sports Illustrated, March 11, 1985 The convert|708|ft|m|adj=on drop broke the 555-foot, 30-year-old record set by Washington Senator catcher Gabby Street at the Washington Monument .cite web|url= http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm? a=v& v=l& bid=322& pid=7402|title=The Baseball Biography Project: Ken Keltner|last=Nitz|first=Jim|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research|accessdate=20 July 2010 The baseballs were estimated to have been traveling at convert|138|mi|km per hour when caught.
See also
List of tallest buildings in Cleveland
References
Reflist|2
Further reading
Herrick, Clay. Cleveland Landmarks (1986) ISBN 0-9646459-0-4
Johannesen, Eric. Cleveland Architecture 1876-1976 (1979) ISBN 0-911704-21-3
Nash, Eric. Manhattan Skyscrapers (1999) ISBN 1-56898-181-3
Rarick, Holly. Progressive Vision: The Planning of Downtown Cleveland 1903-1930 (1986) ISBN 0-910386-86-2
Van Tassel, David. Grabowski, John. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (1987) ISBN 0-253-33056-4
Jr., Harwood H. Herbert. ''Invisible Giants: The Empires of Cleveland's Van Sweringen Brothers (2003) ISBN 0-253-34163-9
External links
commons category
http://www.clevelandmemory.org/cut-coll/ Cleveland Union Terminal Collection
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/ARCH/ARCH-notes-municipal.htm Giralda Towers in the United States (Includes Terminal Tower and many NYC buildings)
s-startsuccession box| before= Chicago Temple Building | title=Tallest building in the United States outside of New York City | years=1930& ndash;1964 216 m | after= Prudential Tower s-endBuildings in Cleveland, Ohio timelineBuildings in Ohio timeline Category:Skyscrapers in Cleveland, Ohio Category:Skyscrapers between 200 and 249 meters Category:Forest City Enterprises
