US Bank Tower
Formerly known as the Library
Tower and First Interstate Bank
World Center, the US Bank Tower is a
skyscraper situated at 633 West
Fifth Street in Los Angeles’
downtown area. It has the
distinction of being the 9th tallest
building in the United States and
the tallest building in California.
The I.S. Bank Tower was completed in
1989 and was designed by Henry N.
Cobb of the architectural
firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.
It cost over 300 million dollars to
build. One of the most easily
recognizable buildings in Los
Angeles, it is often shown in films
and television shows as an
establishing shot for the city.
The most famous feature of the tower
is its large glass "crown" at its
pinnacle that is illuminated at
night. It is lighted with red and
green during the Christmas season,
purple and gold when the Los Angeles
Lakers are participating in the NBA
Play-offs, and blue and white for
the Los Angeles Dodgers. During the
4th of July, the crown had also been
lit with red, white and blue but
they had stopped doing it in
2003.
Two U.S. Bank logo signs, each 75
feet in height, were installed on
the crown on February 28, 2004. This
was amid controversy for their
effect on the aesthetic appearance
of the building which was the case
before when First Interstate Bank's
logos were added to the crown in the
period from 1990 to
1998. |
