Talk:Tower City Center

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[edit] Names

I'm having a bit of difficulty with the wording of this entry. While I understand how Tower City Center is a name that can be applied to the entire redevlopment, Terminal Tower is still Terminal Tower - one piece of the whole.

Wouldn't it more sense to introduce section headers that break out Terminal Tower (skyscraper) and then Tower City (entire complex)? user: stude62 talk:stude62 16:53, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I agree. It seems to me that in regular usage, when people say "Terminal Tower" they mean something different than Tower City Center, and in fact vice versa. People who work in the office tower rarely say they work at "Tower City" and those that work in the mall aren't likely to say they work at "Terminal Tower." I guess my feeling is that the two names aren't interchangrable and therefore it may be misleading to say that "Tower City Center is also known as Terminal Tower" or to even say that "Tower City Center...is a landmark skyscraper," when most consider the tower to be the skyscraper and Tower City Center to be a shopping center and transit hub. 69.171.46.152 05:24, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

I am going to put Terminal Tower into a separate article from Tower City Center because the two are not the same. (For those not familiar with Cleveland/ Tower City, the current way the article is set up would be as if Radio City Music Hall were listed as the same thing as Rockefeller Center.) My basis for this comes from the signage of the outside of the main entrance to Tower City on Public Square. Above the main doors, in large letters are the words "TOWER CITY CENTER," which names the entire complex. Then, to the left and right of the sets of doors is a list of the "elements" which make up the complex - Terminal Tower, The Avenue, MK Ferguson Plaza, Chase Financial Tower, Skylight Office Tower, Higbee Building, Ritz Carlton, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, and RTA Rapid Transit Station. I think that the confusion comes from the fact that the complex was just renamed "Tower City" in the early 90s. But, also remember that the original name of the complex was not actually Terminal Tower to begin with, but instead "Cleveland Union Terminal." user: nick_krol 08 Nov 2005

Obviously, the Terminal Tower is a part of Tower City Center/Cleveland Union Terminal. If you want to add more details about the tower, why not put include them in this article, instead of creating more confusion by splitting it up across multiple pages? If something's unclear to you, try to improve the article. - EurekaLott 20:42, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dates

Okay, I think I've got everything straight now. I had a look through Eric Johannesen's Cleveland Architecture, Clay Herrick's Cleveland Landmarks, and Holly Rarick's Progressive Vision, and they all seem to agree on the dates. - EurekaLott 23:53, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

I'm not so sure that construction began in 1922. I've never heard of that before. From my sources, they all state 1926 as the first year of construction, with 1924 being the first excavation of the site and 1925 being the first public showing of the structure's plans. I changed it back to 1926 for now, but other than that, everything looks great. I also must apologize for the fuss I made about the tower's completion. Now that I've looked into it, Shawn Patrick Hoefler's book, Cleveland's Downtown Architecture states the following:

This 708-foot structure has remained a symbol of the city ever since its completion in 1930.

-- Clevelander 00:07, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

I believe the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History is mistaken in its dates. One of the books I mentioned has a picture of the site in 1923. The site had been cleared, but excavation had not yet begun. What date you use for the start of construction depends on your definition of construction, I suppose. - EurekaLott 00:18, 25 October 2005 (UTC)

While doing further research, I have discovered that indeed the demolition for the site began in 1922-23 (I'm flipping through the Landmarks book as I type this). However, many sources including the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History and this website (http://www.clevelandmemory.org/cut-coll/) still state that the building's actual construction began in 1926. I think a good compromise would be to note that demolition for the site began in 1922 and construction began in 1926. -- Clevelander 01:30, 25 October 2005 (UTC)