Rainier Tower
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Rainier Tower is a 40-story skyscraper (29 stories occupied, the rest pedestal) in the Metropolitan Tract of Seattle, Washington at 1301 Fifth Avenue. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, who also was architect of the World Trade Center in New York City (as well as of the IBM Building, which is on the corner diagonally opposite from Rainier Tower). Its construction was completed in 1977.[1]
The skyscraper has quite a unique appearance, being built atop a 121-foot (11-story) concrete base that tapers towards ground level, much like an inverted pyramid. Standing under the structure gives many observers the illusion that it is tipping over on them. Because the base of the building is reminiscent of a tree being felled by a beaver, one of the tower's nicknames is "the beaver building." Another nickname, for obvious reasons, is "the golf tee building."
Beneath the tower is the Rainier Square underground shopping mall. Both the mall and tower were originally named after Rainier Bank, which was merged in the 1980s into Security Pacific, which was eventually merged into BankAmerica.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Woodridge, Sally B., Roger Montgomery (1980). A Guide to Architecture in Washington State. University of Washington Press, page 127. ISBN 0-295-95779-4.
- ^ Glenn R. Pascall, Too big to fail -- or too big to succeed?, Puget Sound Business Journal, May 8, 1998. Accessed online November 9, 2006.
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