Your city's tallest in your lifetime

[KevinFromTexas]

The other two threads we have going talking about your city's tallest buildings going up and how many 400 footers before and after 2000 had me thinking about how many new tallest I've seen go up in Austin over the years. I've been lucky enough to see 5 new tallest buildings go up in Austin, and will likely get to see a 6th go up in a few years.

Admittedly, I was pretty young when the first one went up, so I don't really remember that one.

One American Center - 401 feet - 32 floors - 1984. Tallest in Austin from 1984 to 2004.

Frost Bank Tower - 516 feet - 33 floors - 2004. Tallest in Austin from 2004 to 2008.

360 Condominiums - 581 feet - 44 floors - 2008. Tallest in Austin from 2008 to 2010.

The Austonian - 683 feet - 56 floors - 2010. Tallest in Austin from 2010 to 2018.

The Independent - 690 feet - 58 floors - 2018. Current tallest.

6 X Guadalupe - 848 feet - 65 floors - 2020. This one will likely start early next year.

So, I got to thinking about past tallest buildings. I've seen 5 new tallest in Austin over the years. My mom has seen 7 go up in Austin, and my dad only saw 3.

I was thinking about how it could have been possible for someone born in the early part of the 20th century to never get to see a new tallest go up in Austin. The Texas Capitol was built in 1888 and it remained Austin's tallest until 1974. You could have been an architecture geek in the 1920s in Austin and never have seen a new tallest, assuming someone was born in say, 1900 or so, they might not have lived to see 1974 when the Chase Bank Tower was built.

[spidey7312]

I'm still quite young, but I've never seen a new tallest go up in my hometown. The current tallest is Kettering Tower, which was built in 1970 and is 408 feet.

However, I have seen the construction of another city's new tallest. That would be Cincinnati's Great American Tower, which was completed in 2011 and is 665 feet tall.

[JManc]

Houston: One Shell Plaza -> 1100 Louisiana -> Chase Tower

[Pedestrian]

I wasn't in SF when the Transamerica went up. Since then, its height has only been bested by the Salesforce Tower and that only because the city needed money to build the new transit terminal and realized the more height they allowed, the more they could get for the lot.

Going up now, across the street from the Salesforce, is Oceanwide Center which, at 910 ft, would have been the new tallest for a little while if it had been built before Salesforce but now it will only be second, pushing Transamerica to third.

[Spocket]

In my city (Winnipeg) I was around when the Richardson building was the tallest (420 feet/124 meters) followed by what was originally known as the TD Center (128 meters) Now there's a new building going up which is 142 meters tall. There's a proposal which is pretty much dead for one somewhere in the 170 meter range but again, that's really unlikely to get built.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

The other two threads we have going talking about your city's tallest buildings going up and how many 400 footers before and after 2000 had me thinking about how many new tallest I've seen go up in Austin over the years. I've been lucky enough to see 5 new tallest buildings go up in Austin, and will likely get to see a 6th go up in a few years.

Admittedly, I was pretty young when the first one went up, so I don't really remember that one.

One American Center - 401 feet - 32 floors - 1984. Tallest in Austin from 1984 to 2004.

Frost Bank Tower - 516 feet - 33 floors - 2004. Tallest in Austin from 2004 to 2008.

360 Condominiums - 581 feet - 44 floors - 2008. Tallest in Austin from 2008 to 2010.

The Austonian - 683 feet - 56 floors - 2010. Tallest in Austin from 2010 to 2018.

The Independent - 690 feet - 58 floors - 2018. Current tallest.

6 X Guadalupe - 848 feet - 65 floors - 2020. This one will likely start early next year.

So, I got to thinking about past tallest buildings. I've seen 5 new tallest in Austin over the years. My mom has seen 7 go up in Austin, and my dad only saw 3.

I was thinking about how it could have been possible for someone born in the early part of the 20th century to never get to see a new tallest go up in Austin. The Texas Capitol was built in 1888 and it remained Austin's tallest until 1974. You could have been an architecture geek in the 1920s in Austin and never have seen a new tallest, assuming someone was born in say, 1900 or so, they might not have lived to see 1974 when the Chase Bank Tower was built.

In L.A., these new tallest went up during my residence there from the 1960s to 1990s:

Union Bank, 516', 42 floors (1968); Crocker Citizens Plaza, 620', 43 floors (1969); ARCO-BAC Plaza twins, 699', 52 floors (1972); United California Bank (later 1st Interstate, now Aon), 854', 62 floors (1974); Library Tower (later First Interstate, now US Bank Tower), 1018', 73 floors (1990). After I moved to San Diego, a new tallest was built, Wilshire Grand, 1100', 73 floors (2017), although US Bank still has the highest occupied floor and roof height.

[HurricaneHugo]

San Diego:

1989 - Symphony Towers (499 ft)
1991 - One America Plaza (500 ft)

That's not going to change anytime soon.

[mja]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

I was thinking about how it could have been possible for someone born in the early part of the 20th century to never get to see a new tallest go up in Austin. The Texas Capitol was built in 1888 and it remained Austin's tallest until 1974. You could have been an architecture geek in the 1920s in Austin and never have seen a new tallest, assuming someone was born in say, 1900 or so, they might not have lived to see 1974 when the Chase Bank Tower was built.

Same thing in Philly. City Hall tower was completely erected by 1894 (though interior work went on until 1901). The infamous gentleman's agreement kept it the City's tallest until Liberty 1 was completed in 1986.

In my lifetime, I've only seen 4 different buildings with the claim of tallest in my city: Philadelphia City Hall -> Liberty 1 -> Comcast Center -> Comcast Technology Center (which is just about done).

[Metro-One]

For Vancouver:

1985 to 2001: Royal Centre 144.8 metres (475 ft.)

2001 to 2008: One Wall Centre 149.8 metres (491 ft.)

2008 to current: The Shangri-La 196.9 metres (646 ft.)

Taller towers are now proposed in the suburbs, but I doubt we will ever see anything taller downtown.

[Steely Dan]

Chicago:

Sears tower.


Sears was built in '74 and I was born in '76, so despit all of chicago's crazy skyscraper building over the past 4 decades, I've never seen a new tallest go up. I hope that changes someday.

[SteveD]

My family moved to Atlanta in 1974 so for me it's been:

Westin Peachtree Plaza: 1976, 723'
One Atlantic Center: 1987, 820'
SunTrust Plaza: 1992, 867'
Bank of America Plaza, also 1992, 1,023'

26 years now. C'mon, Atlanta, it's time for a new one....

[mhays]

I was born in 1969, the same as our tallest before the Columbia Center in 1984. Still the tallest. There's a proposal to go a little taller but it's at least a year away based on lack of entitlement progress.

Seattle's tallest using SSP stats when possible:
--1914: Smith Tower, 484'
--1962: Space Needle, 605'
--1969: Safeco Plaza, 630'
--1985: Columbia Center, 932'

Three of them have observation decks. The fourth, Safeco Plaza, is also a familiar view....it had a restaurant at the top until 1990, and I was a cook there.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by mja

In my lifetime, I've only seen 4 different buildings with the claim of tallest in my city: Philadelphia City Hall -> Liberty 1 -> Comcast Center -> Comcast Technology Center (which is just about done).

Yeah but two really tall ones in the past ~10 years in a city that dragged its feat when it came to tall buildings period. It went from having no skyline 35 years ago to one of the biggest and most iconic in the US with some of the tallest buildings. That's impressive.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I was born in 1983

Cincinnati:
Carew Tower (built in 1930/31)
Queen City Square (built in 2010/11)

Phoenix:
Valley Center/Bank One Tower/Chase Tower (built in 1972)

Flagstaff:
Sechrist Hall on NAU campus, a whopping nine stories (built in 1966/67)

[mja]

Originally Posted by JManc

Yeah but two really tall ones in the past ~10 years in a city that dragged its feat when it came to tall buildings period. It went from having no skyline 35 years ago to one of the biggest and most iconic in the US with some of the tallest buildings. That's impressive.

Indeed, though I do sometimes miss all of the tall art deco beauties that never were.

[MayDay]

Born 1972 (on May Day ). Tallest in Cleveland at the time was the Terminal Tower, then Key Tower took the title in 1991.

[soulard&como]

For me (St. Louis) it would be One Metropolitan Square (593', 1989).

But the one I count, and vividly remember being built is the Eagleton Federal Courthouse (557', 2000). It was so strange to see it rise as they built the entire elevator shaft before the rest of the building. I also remember people complaining that their views of the Arch while driving from the west was now ruined bc of this building.



Photo Cred: St. Louis Post Dispatch

[PhilliesPhan]

I was born in 1995, so I've seen two buildings rise and claim the title of the tallest in Philadelphia: the Comcast Center (2008) and the Comcast Technology Center (2018). Additionally, since I can see it from across the river, I'm also witnessing Camden's tallest building currently rise!

The best part about all of this? I'm probably going to live to see something taller proposed and/or built in Philly during my lifetime! I doubt it will be constructed in Center City, however (at least west of Broad).

[Boisebro]

I grew up in the midwest, and the cities I visited most frequently seem to be stuck. perhaps I'm cursed.

born in 1968. Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago all had their current tallest built in 1973/1974:

Minneapolis—IDS Center, 1973
Milwaukee—U.S. Bank Center, 1973
Chicago—Sears Tower, 1974

IT'S TIME FOR A NEW TALLEST, MINNEAUKEECAGO!!!!

[Steely Dan]

^ indeed!

chicago is long overdue for a new tallest, but part of the problem is that the sears tower was built so damn tall in the first place.

being born in chicago in 1976, i've never seen a new tallest go up here, but at least 20 of the current 25 tallest have gone up during my lifetime, so it's not like chicago hasn't been significantly building up its skylne over the past 4 decades, we just can't seem to get over that 1,450' hump.

hopefully someday......