Key Tower

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View of the Key Tower from the BP Tower, with The Mall, Cleveland Browns Stadium, and Lake Erie in the background
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View of the Key Tower from the BP Tower, with The Mall, Cleveland Browns Stadium, and Lake Erie in the background

Key Tower is a skyscraper in Cleveland, Ohio designed by architect César Pelli. It is the tallest building in the city, surpassing the Terminal Tower, as well as the tallest building in Ohio and the 15th tallest building in the United States. Key Tower reaches 57 stories or 947 ft (289 m) to the top of its spire, and it can be visible for up to twenty miles away. The tower includes about 1.5 million square feet (139,355 m²) of office space.

It was originally built as the Society Center but was renamed when Society Bank acquired Key Bank. Society had recently acquired Ameritrust and canceled Ameritrust's plans for an even taller building. Had the Ameritrust Bank building been built it would been 75-80 floors tall. The height would been 1,175-feet tall. It would have had been designed by New York's Kohn Pederson Fox or KPF. It was supposed be begin construction ca 1993 and opened in 1998. Key Tower is owned and was developed by The Richard E. Jacobs Group, Inc although Key Bank's official headquarters are in most of the tower.

Key Tower's construction was completed in 1991 and many believe it was purposely built a few feet higher than Philadelphia's tallest building (One Liberty Place) to make it the tallest building between Chicago and New York City. However, the pending construction of the 975-foot (297 m) Comcast Center in Philadelphia will take away this distinction.

F-111, James Rosenquist's famous large pop art painting hung in the tower's lobby until building owner Richard Jacobs sold it to the Museum of Modern Art in 1996. He replaced it in 1998 with Songs for Sale, a mural by artist David Salle.[1] In October 2005, Key Bank installed four 15-foot (4.6 m) long illuminated logos at the base of the tower's crowning pyramid. Each sign weighs 1500 pounds (680 kg).

The official address of Key Tower is 127 Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio 44114 and Key Tower is located in the Civic Center Zone of Downtown Cleveland.

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Litt, Steven. "Salle Mural Quietly Fills Key Tower Void", The Plain Dealer. March 22, 1998.

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