What skyscrapers needed to be taller?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by JManc

As for buildings that shouldn't have needed to be taller, fortunately this never happened.

Man, 1960s - 1970s America had some pretty terrible ideas, particularly in regards to urban centers.

[KevinFromTexas]

Definitely the Frost Bank Tower in Austin. At the time, the height was pretty much perfect for the skyline even if the design is 700 or 800 feet worthy. Today, though, it actually disappears from several angles, especially from the west/northwest/southwest.

In 2004, it was our tallest, but that didn't last long as it was surpassed by 360 Condominiums in 2008. That building has a lower roof, but the spire is higher than Frost's crown. Since then, it's been surpassed in height 3 more times, including another building that has a lower roof and higher spire. At the moment, the Frost Bank Tower is Austin's 5th tallest, but there are enough buildings under construction now that it will become our 10th tallest by 2023.

I sort of feel like even though the design is good enough to be taller to be seen from farther away, I also feel like it being taller would make the crown so high up that you wouldn't be able to enjoy it. This is the view of it from The Austonian across Congress Avenue.


https://www.facebook.com/ATXBizJourn...55750377639236

[Atlas]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

Frost Tower in San Antonio. Not a huge amount taller, but a bit taller all the same. Looks stumpy to me.


Droning Over Downtown by bill barfield, on Flickr

This is a cool little tower that I'd never seen before, thanks for sharing. I could definitely imagine it as a 600 footer.

[KevinFromTexas]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

One Kennedy Square, Detroit:


Source: https://redico.com/properties/one-kennedy-square

It should have been at least twice as tall.

That is strange. It looks like the top 200 feet of a 600 foot building.

[SFBruin]

The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco always needed to be taller. Fortunately, this has been somewhat fixed by the construction of the Salesforce Tower.

I feel that the Columbia Center in Seattle could be 50 - 100 ft taller, given the gradient of the skyline.

[ue]

Agreed about the Austin Frost Tower.

Some Canadian ones I can think of:
- The Butterfly, Vancouver (ideally 215-230m)
- Scotia Tower, Vancouver (would be great in the 225-250m range)
- Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver (>150m and able to stick out in the skyline)
- Marine Building, Vancouver (same as Hotel Vancouver)
- Manulife Place, Edmonton (swap its height out with Stantec Tower, 250m)
- Old Enbridge Tower, Edmonton (150m)
- CN Tower, Edmonton (175-200m range would be cool)
- 707 Fifth, Calgary (>150m)
- First Canadian Centre, Calgary (>215m to make it stick out more)
- One Canada Centre, Winnipeg (>150m easily)
- Canadian Grain Commission, Winnipeg (170m)
- 201 Portage, Winnipeg (190-220m)
- Scotia Plaza, Toronto (330-360m, overthrowing First Canadian Place)
- Toronto Dominion Centre, Toronto (310m)
- Simcoe Place, Toronto (200m)
- Commerce Court North, Toronto (200-225m)
- One London Place, London (170m)
- Marquee Residence, Hamilton (140m)
- Pigott Building, Hamilton (120m, maybe a bit wider too)
- Tour de la Bourse, Montreal (250m)
- Place Ville Marie, Montreal (280-300m)
- 1501 McGill College, Montreal (200m)
- Tour KPMG, Montreal (225m)
- National Bank, Montreal (250-260m)
- 1000 de la Gauchetiere, Montreal (240-270m)
- Tour CIBC, Montreal (270-300m)
- Purdys Wharf II, Halifax (170m)
- Purdys Wharf I, Halifax (150m)
- 1801 Holis, Halifax (150-160m)
- Dominion Public Building, Halifax (120m)
- TD Centre, Halifax (130-150m)

[James Bond Agent 007]

Yeah, I'd never heard of that idea either until now.

Good thing it never happened.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

That is strange. It looks like the top 200 feet of a 600 foot building.

I believe the original plan was for a much taller building. Not 600 feet, but maybe +/- 300 feet. But it was basically a charity project since building a tower in downtown Detroit was considered a huge gamble in the early 2000s. The presence of the building has definitely transformed that area, but the height still feels like a missed opportunity. If it were being built today, it would probably be at least 300 feet.

[SacTownAndy]

Probably because I see it almost every day, but I always thought the US Bank Tower in Sacramento would look better if it were like 1/3 taller. I believe it's 402 ft., 500-550ft would look great with that design.



source: Hensel Phelps https://www.henselphelps.com/project...-capitol-mall/

[edale]

Sacramento might have the worst skyline for a city/metro of its size. FAA issue ala Phoenix and San Diego?

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by SFBruin

The Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco always needed to be taller. Fortunately, this has been somewhat fixed by the construction of the Salesforce Tower.

I feel that the Columbia Center in Seattle could be 50 - 100 ft taller, given the gradient of the skyline.

I think if the Transamerica Pyramid were taller the base would need to be bigger, or else it would look too slender from a distance and not pyramid-y enough. Right now the proportions as is, is perfect.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by homebucket

I think if the Transamerica Pyramid were taller the base would need to be bigger, or else it would look too slender from a distance and not pyramid-y enough. Right now the proportions as is, is perfect.

Oh the Transamerica Pyramid! It was originally planned to be much taller, at 1040, but SF residents made a big stink about the 'Manhattanization' of SF that it was shortened. It was still vilified for years.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...ng-3097193.php

[MolsonExport]

The elegant old masonry towers should be taller (and more frequent), and the banal glass boxes should be shorter (and less frequent)

[SacTownAndy]

Originally Posted by edale

Sacramento might have the worst skyline for a city/metro of its size. FAA issue ala Phoenix and San Diego?

Unfortunately, no. There's a Capitol View ordinance height limit but that only spans a few blocks around the Capitol. Mostly it's just plain 'ol economics.

[mrnyc]

for ny i always thought two near each other on the west side, hearst and the time warner twins, are way too short.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by BG918

Not a fan of Frost Tower in San Antonio or really the entire SA skyline. Probably the biggest under-performer for a metro its size in the U.S.

It looks like a hole saw to me. A little added height would make it work a bit (no pun intended) better for me. I don't hate it as much as I originally did...I must be getting used to it. It makes for a nice, shiny, reflective object to photograph.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The elegant old masonry towers should be taller (and more frequent)

that is a very legit wish i have for chicago.

this town built a lot of pre-war skyscrapers, but unfortunately it never erected any that came anywhere close to the monsters in NYC (though there were several proposals for them back in the day.

chicago has 30 pre-war towers over 100 M tall (far and away the largest collection of such towers in the world, outside of NYC), but the tallest one (CBoT building) is only 184 M tall, which means it doesn't even break into chicago's top 50 tallest buildings today (it's currently #52 including U/C towers), so none of chicago's pre-war towers have a great deal of overall skyline presence anymore (though, thanks to grant park and the chicago river canyon, many of them still have pretty good visibility within the city).

it would've been really cool if chicago had managed to build at least one ESB or even chrysler-level pre-war tower that would still have some real skyline presence here in the 21st century. we had proposals for them, but they were all sadly killed by the great depression.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Definitely the Frost Bank Tower in Austin. At the time, the height was pretty much perfect for the skyline even if the design is 700 or 800 feet worthy. Today, though, it actually disappears from several angles, especially from the west/northwest/southwest.

First time I saw it was at night, riding in a car going north on (probably) the 1st Street bridge. It was all lit up and my initial reaction was "HOLY CRAP! Does Batman live up there?" I've never been too fond of it, but you're right that is should be taller. It was my immediate second choice for this thread after S.A.'s Frost Tower.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

that is a very legit wish i have for chicago.

this town built a lot of pre-war skyscrapers, but unfortunately it never erected any that came anywhere close to the monsters in NYC (though there were several proposals for them back in the day.

chicago has 30 pre-war towers over 100 M tall (far and away the largest collection of such towers in the world, outside of NYC), but the tallest one (CBoT building) is only 184 M tall, which means it doesn't even break into chicago's top 50 tallest buildings today (it's currently #52 including U/C towers), so none of chicago's pre-war towers have a great deal of overall skyline presence anymore (though, thanks to grant park and the chicago river canyon, many of them still have pretty good visibility within the city).

it would've been really cool if chicago had managed to build at least one ESB or even chrysler-level pre-war tower that would still have some real skyline presence here in the 21st century. we had proposals for them, but they were all sadly killed by the great depression.

I think it's a bit well known around here that Detroit's Fisher Building was only partially built due to the Depression. I just found a computer rendering on Reddit of what it would look like if it was built according to the original design:


source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lost_Archit...1928_plan_for/

Only the short tower on the right side was built, so the version today isn't even 1/3 of what was planned. If built to the original plan, I believe the middle tower would be close to the same height as the Renaissance Center's center tower.

[dave8721]

In Miami the ornate 7-story Dade Commonwealth Building needs to be taller. In fact it was originally taller. It was built as a 17-story building in 1925 but heavily damaged by a the great Miami hurricane of 1926 and only the bottom 7 floors were salvaged.


after the hurricane:
https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/159891