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Buildings in this section include: • Key Tower (formerly Society Center) • Terminal Tower • 200 Public Square (formerly BP Tower/Sohio Building) • Tower at Erieview |
All images, unless noted otherwise © 2000-2010 clevelandskyscrapers.com.
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Click thumbnail for photos of Key Tower.
Key Tower - 1991
Cesar Pelli and Associates
63 Floors (57 Office Floors)
888 ft/271m to top of "crown";
948 ft/290m to top of spire
127 Public Square, Cleveland
Key Tower is the tallest building in Cleveland, as well as the tallest in Ohio and one of the tallest buildings in the United States. The tower is visible from as far as twenty miles outside of downtown Cleveland.
The tower, developed by the R.E. Jacobs Group, was originally built as the Society Center, and was renamed when KeyCorp acquired Society Bank. The tower faces two of downtown Cleveland's most significant public spaces, Public Square and Mall A.
Key Tower features art deco-like setbacks leading to a stainless steel pyramidal crown. Key Tower is connected to the Burnham and Root-designed Society for Savings building.
In September of 2005, KeyBank added illuminated signage to each side of the base of the crown.
Click thumbnail for photos of Terminal Tower.
Terminal Tower - 1930
Graham, Anderson, Probst and White
52 Floors
708 ft/216m
50 Public Square, Cleveland
The Terminal Tower is the “grande dame” of Cleveland skyscrapers and the most significant landmark of downtown Cleveland. Restoration of the tower was completed in 2010, and included installation of an LED lighting system to illuminate the tower.
When it was built as part of the Van Sweringen brothers' Union Terminal station, it was the tallest building in North America outside of New York City until 1967, when the Prudential Center was built in Boston. It was the tallest in the world (outside of New York City) until 1953 when the main building was constructed at Moscow State University. The related earthmoving required for the Union Terminal complex was the second largest excavation in history after the Panama Canal.
Terminal Tower remains the second tallest building in Cleveland and Ohio. Click here to go to Cleveland State University Library's “Cleveland Union Terminal” collection, an exhaustive resource detailing the construction and history of the Union Terminal complex.
Please note that the Terminal Tower's 42nd floor observation deck is NOT open to the public due to security concerns.
Click thumbnail for photos of 200 Public Square.
200 Public Square - 1985
Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
45 Floors
658 ft/198m
200 Public Square, Cleveland
This tower was built as the headquarters for Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio), and renamed the BP Tower when Sohio merged with British Petroleum. The name has changed to the building's address as British Petroleum relocated its corporate operations. At one time, the Williamson Building and the Burnham and Root-designed Cuyahoga Building stood at the site- click here for a view, courtesy of Frank Gerlak.
200 Public Square features multiple setbacks at its top which are intended to lessen its visual impact on the nearby Terminal Tower. 200 Public Square also features an 8-story atrium, one of Cleveland's largest, with numerous fountains and artwork throughout. 200 Public Square is the third tallest building in Cleveland and the fourth tallest in Ohio.
Special thanks to Jay Ryan for providing construction images.
Click thumbnail for photos of Tower at Erieview.
Tower at Erieview (100 Erieview) - 1964
Harrison and Abramovitz
40 Floors
529 ft/161m
100 Erieview, Cleveland
(East 12th between St. Clair and Lakeside)
This building was part of the Erieview Plan designed by I.M. Pei, a controversial urban renewal plan that differs greatly from its original 1960s design. The Tower at Erieview was the first to be built in the plan.
Harrison and Abramovitz also designed the United Nations building in New York City. Wallace K. Harrison was also one of the architects for Rockefeller Center. For years, a vast plaza was located to the west of the Tower at Erieview, until the Galleria at Erieview, a glassy two story shopping center developed by the R.E. Jacobs Group, was constructed in 1987.
