One Financial Plaza

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**One Financial Plaza**


Begun:	1970
Opened:	1973
Height:	413 (125 meters)
Floors:	30
ZIP Code:	02891
City Rank:	2nd (as of early 2006)
Location:	One Financial Plaza
Architect:	John Carl Warnecke & Associates
Developers:	Hospital Trust Corporation

One Financial Plaza, also known as the Sovereign Bank Tower and formerly known as the Hospital Trust Tower, is an international-style skyscraper in the heart of downtown Providence, Rhode Island.

Standing as the second tallest building in Providence, its taut-skin cladding is done in pre-cast concrete and travertine.^[1]. The building is topped with a wide masonry cap surrounded by lights that glow orange at night (the light colors are changed to green and red for the Christmas holiday season, pink for the Valentines Day season, and red, white, and blue for the Independence Day season). Atop its roof is the highest helicopter pad in the state of Rhode Island. The Hospital Trust Tower was built to house the institution responsible for funding Rhode Island Hospital^[2].

W^m McKenzie Woodward, a well-known architectural historian and staff member of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, does not agree aesthetically with the building, calling it a "lackluster addition to both the street and the skyline" saying that its "blunt mass" is made "all the more graceless" by its travertine curtain wall.

Being the second tallest building, One Financial Plaza is one of the three buildings featured in the Providence skyline often seen in the television series Family Guy.

[edit] References

^ One Financial Plaza, Providence. Emporis.com. Accessed June 5, 2006.
^ Woodward, Wm McKenzie. "Guide to Providence Architecture. 1st ed. 2003: United States. ISBN 0-9742847-0-x. p79-80