LOS ANGELES | Citigroup Center | 625 FT / 190 M | 48 FLOORS | 1979
The quintessential downtown LA corporate sleek skyscraper, Citigroup Center is a 48 story aluminum clad geometric prism. Along with its contemporaries such as IBM in New York, the building is the definition of 80's downtown architecture.
Designed like many buildings in downtown LA by A.C. Martin & Partners, this building served as the LA headquarters for Wells Fargo until they took over Crocker Bank and moved up Grand Avenue to their current digs. The Wells Fargo carriage logo was replaced at the top by a sleek slim-font '444' in 1988, representing the building's address at 444 S. Flower Street. That logo remained in place until Citicorp (later Citigroup) moved in sometime around 2001.
When completed it was the 5th tallest building in LA and is still 11th after nearly 30 years.
The aluminum cladding and reflective blue glass reflect everything around it, during the day and at night, creating an interesting canvas for photographing. The base of the tower sits against the Bunker Hill steps, which it shares with the Library Tower and a palm tree festooned plaza that opens up onto Flower Street. Unfortunately the security guards at this building are ridiculous and will even attempt to chase you off the sidewalk in front of the building if you have a camera. I've had more problems with the guards at this building than any other in DT LA.
Which is not to say I don't have any photos!
I should go dig up the 'LA Law' theme song for this thread!
circa 1990:
So many logos on this tower over the years that the replacement aluminum panels don't match. Really looks bad:
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Ha, thanks Plinko. I've now got the LA Law theme song stuck in my head.
For as tall as it is, it looks dwarfed when photographed next to the Library Tower.
Another great skyscraper. The lobby was also the filming location for the bank robbery scenes before the shootout in Heat. The IMDB has that location listed as 444 S. Flower Street.
I've always thought this building looked out of place in LA. Not saying it looked bad, but for some reason it just doesn't seem like a building you'd expect to find anywhere in California for that matter. It looks more New York to me. Love the color and sheen on the facade.
The only resemblance this building has to the Citigroup Centre in NY is the silver and the rows of windows. In NY The building is a square all the way up with a tilted roof. In LA the building has floors of different sizes. Not only that, the building in LA is held up by beams on the edges, in NY the beams that hold up the building are centered around the middle of the building.
This has always been one of my favorite skyscrapers in LA for some reason. It's not the tallest, but I like the way the facade reflects the color of the sky.
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