US Bank Tower

Identification

Map

Structure in general

Usage

Facts

• The glass crown on top is brightly illuminated at night.
• The Bunker Hill Steps, a variation of Rome's Spanish Steps, wrap around the west side of the base, leading up to Bunker Hill.
• When completed, became the tallest building on the Pacific coast, surpassing Columbia Center in Seattle.
• Tallest building in the United States west of the Mississippi River.
• The building was designed to withstand an earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter Scale.
• The tower has 4 glass-crowned setbacks, at the 48th, 57th, 61st, and 69th floor levels.
• The highest helipad in the world is on the roof.
• Until US Bancorp committed to a major lease with naming rights in March 2003, the building was named Library Tower after the Los Angeles Central Library across the street.
• First building to be destroyed by alien invaders in the 1996 movie "Independence Day".
• The central core structure has a frame that is reinforced in two directions.
• The façade, consisting of granite strips alternating with rectangular windows each 6.4 m (21 ft) long, is also designed to endure deformations of up to 6.35 cm (2.5 inch) per floor.
• From the 53rd floor up, horizontal forces caused by wind or earthquakes are dampened by two struts, which are each one floor high.
• Upon completion this became the tallest building in the world located in a major seismic region; it has since been surpassed by Taipei 101.