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  #1  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 4:31 AM
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LOS ANGELES | Library Tower | 1,018 FT / 310 M | 73 FLOORS | 1988

Originally conceived as the tallest building in a seismic zone 4, Maguire Thomas Partners traded air rights to the much delapitated LA Central Library to develop two fabulous skyscraping architectural dynamos: the Library Tower and the Gas Company Tower.

The Library Tower (orginally First Interstate World Center) was designed by Henry Cobb of PeiCobbFreed. The design is based on a series of overlapped squares inscribed within circles. The resulting shapes, along with certain setbacks create a fantastically intricate facade culminating in a full glass star-shaped crown.

The crown is brightly lit white most days, but also other color schemes for holidays and sports.

The building is across the street from Bertram Goodhue's LA Central Library (a true gem) and wedged between the deco classic Edison Building and Lawrence Halprin's Bunker Hill Steps.

In 200(4)? US Bank became a large tenant in the building and also bought naming rights. They bastardized the crown with not only a logo, but also a name plate which is highly unfortunate looking. It may now be called the US Bank Tower...but will likely always be known as the Library Tower.

So I share my photos from over the years...

How's this for old skool? Check the First Interstate logo at the top (removed in 1992 when Wells Fargo took over FI)












































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Last edited by plinko; May 9, 2008 at 4:51 AM.
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  #2  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 4:49 AM
JDRCRASH JDRCRASH is offline
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Ahh, the U.S. Bank Tower....my most favorite building, second to ESB in NYC.
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  #3  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 4:53 AM
antinimby antinimby is offline
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They should just keep the Library Tower name instead of constantly changing it to whoever the latest bank tenant/owner is.
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  #4  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 6:08 PM
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^Agree. I never call it anything but the Library Tower when speaking or writing about it.

I dislike logos across the top of buildings, also. But hanging one on The Library Tower's crown is sacraligious. Hope it is ok, Plinko, but I took one of your pictures and returned the crown to it's intended state.



btw, thanks Plinko for the thread and all the great pics!

Last edited by DowntownCharlieBrown; May 9, 2008 at 6:50 PM.
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  #5  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 6:24 PM
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I've said it before, and i'll say it again; I think that having a couple more crowns and an Antennae to top it off would look great; if only people would agree with me though.

I dunno DowntownCharlieBrown, having no logos on it makes it look....plain.
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  #6  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 6:59 PM
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DowntownCharlieBrown DowntownCharlieBrown is offline
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^You young kids that were brought up on MTV and Video games have had your retinas over stimulated. So your generation is looking for "flashy, bright, constant movement, more, more, more" and may confuse "plain" with "pure".... Gawd, I'm talking like an old man.

Last edited by DowntownCharlieBrown; May 9, 2008 at 7:15 PM.
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  #7  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 10:36 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DowntownCharlieBrown View Post
^You young kids that were brought up on MTV and Video games have had your retinas over stimulated. So your generation is looking for "flashy, bright, constant movement, more, more, more" and may confuse "plain" with "pure".... Gawd, I'm talking like an old man.
Heck yes Entertainments is getting to intense we need more more more
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  #8  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 7:45 PM
JDRCRASH JDRCRASH is offline
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^
Exactly how old are you?
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  #9  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 8:08 PM
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^Old enough to kick you butt for asking. LOL
(IOW, I'm not saying.)

But it was before SSP, the Internet, and well before the Library Tower was even a thought in someones mind.
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  #10  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 8:55 PM
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BrandonJXN BrandonJXN is offline
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There is more X's than an episode of Divorce Court.
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  #11  
Old Posted May 9, 2008, 10:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ThreeHundred View Post
There is more X's than an episode of Divorce Court.
pics not showing up? Hmmm...it's Photobucket and I pay for it so they should be there...anybody else having problems?

JDR, architecture is rarely developed to account for logos and other such things. Sometimes...but rarely. In the case of this building...I'm sure Henry Cobb loathes the USBank logo up there even more than most of us do!

At least the gold First Interstate sign (one of my favorite corporate icons of all time) was fairly subtle and was proportionally OK. That USBank garbage is just that...
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Old Posted May 10, 2008, 12:03 AM
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BrandonJXN BrandonJXN is offline
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^ Now I can see them thanks. The US Bank is the ESB of the west. It is a iconic skyscraper in the sense that it is one of LA's trademarks. It is the focal point of many tv shows, music videos, commericals, and yadda yadda.

I love it. It has such a strong, almost humanoid shape. And JDR..antenne and other crowns is a shitty idea. Remove the logo. Addition by subtraction.
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  #13  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 12:16 AM
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This has always been my favorite building outside of Manhattan. It's a very iconic tower that has been in pop culture countless times. I love the Downtown LA skyline in general. It's like a painting.
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  #14  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 2:21 AM
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I've never seen anything to like about this building.
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  #15  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 3:12 AM
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Speaking of the logo, I had read that this was the tallest building in the world with a logo on top. Is that true?
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  #16  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 6:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alliance View Post
I've never seen anything to like about this building.
Really? Ah this is like my favorite Skyscraper of all time! Imma big fan of postmodernism.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Easy View Post
Speaking of the logo, I had read that this was the tallest building in the world with a logo on top. Is that true?
Yes it is, unless you count the sign attached between the CITIC Plaza's Spires in China.

Some shots of the US Bank Tower (Ah yes, I refer to it as the US Bank Tower, dont hurt me ) I took on my horribly short trip back home to the Southland, back in post-christmas 2007, pre-new year 2008.







And here are some I took in 2003 (before the US Bank logos!)





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  #17  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 4:45 PM
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love this building. The facade really has a lot of texture and the crown is beautiful. This is kind of like the cousin of 311 South Wacker Dr. in Chicago.
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  #18  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 8:04 PM
ItsConanOBrien ItsConanOBrien is offline
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I've always been a big fan of this one. Something about it just works so well.
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  #19  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 8:42 PM
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The most beautiful in Southern California and one of my most favorite skyscrapers in the world.
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  #20  
Old Posted May 10, 2008, 10:58 PM
canucklehead2 canucklehead2 is offline
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Does anyone know what the top floors are being used for? I noticed the uppermost floor is a complete circle of what looks to be floor to ceiling glass, and the floor just below it has over sized windows as well...
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