I found out today that, after work on Thursday, my fellow summer associates and I will be attending a summer-clerk party (with summers from various other Phoenix firms) at the Arizona Club on the 37th floor of the 40-story Chase Tower in Phoenix — the tallest building in Arizona.
I love tall buildings, so this got me thinking…
Once upon a time — as of June 1990, to be specific — I could say that I’d been up 4 of the 7 tallest buildings in the world: #1 (Sears Tower), #3 (Two World Trade Center), #4 (Empire State Building), and #7 (John Hancock Center). This was a source of considerable pride for me, and I hoped to add to my total and someday complete the Top 10.
Alas, much has changed in the last 16 years. As this list of the world’s 200 tallest buildings shows, a whole slew of skyscrapers have been constructed in Asia over the last decade-and-a-half, demoting the Sears Tower to #4 in the world, the Empire State Building to #9, and the John Hancock Center to #16. And of course, both towers of the World Trade Center — Tower One, which I hadn’t visited, and Tower Two, which I had — were destroyed in the terrorist atrocity on September 11, 2001.
As a result, I can now claim to have visited only 3 of the top 16 buildings in the world. Harumph. And Thursday’s party won’t put a dent in that; at 483 feet, the Chase Tower doesn’t even come close to making the Top 200 list. (Building #200 is 743 feet.)
That said, I have visited the world’s tallest “free-standing structure”: the CN Tower in Toronto, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. But alas, even that distinction won’t last for long: Burj Dubai is scheduled to overtake the CN Tower for tallest structure (and Taipei 101 for tallest building) in 2008.
On the bright side, there may be a new really tall building in Chicago for me to visit soon: the Fordham Spire, due to be completed in 2009 (or perhaps 2010; more info here). And there’s also the Freedom Tower in New York to look forward to, circa 2012. Of course, by then, there will probably be about 800 new tall buildings in Asia… :)
P.S. Here’s a list of the tallest buildings in Phoenix. I work on floor #22 out of 26 in building #10, One Renaissance Square.
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Categories: My Life
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July 25th, 2006 at 7:08:41 pm
First saw the Chase Building (#1) in 1974 (it was named after some other bank at the time), when my Cub Scout den took a we’re-running-out-of-ideas field trip: the No. 5 bus from Sunnyslope to downtown. Nice to see the old girl hanging on.
And in the summer of 1987, to save money for grad school, I worked as a night watchman in Camelback One (#44), and always imagined half-a-dozen burglar/murderers beyond every door by 4 am.
Anyway, the romance of tall buildings has never been lost on me.
July 25th, 2006 at 7:32:27 pm
You Summerclerks shure seem to do a lot of Official Partying. :} Saaay, whadda We Paying Youse People for, Anyways? :> Get me Johnny Edwards on the phone right away. ;}
“…Burj Dubai…”
FIIIE!!! Dag Nabbit, send Them Peoples back ter Mexico where they Belong! / Get me Lou Dobbs on the horn. ;/
Texasyank, you were a Cubscout in 1974?? Whyyy, ya Punk, towel off behind yerz Ears wouldyez, yer all a-Drippin’ on me Eartrumpet, here. / HAH? Wut SAY? SPEAK UP, SONNY! Ahhh these Kids Today. No Respeck at all. :)
July 25th, 2006 at 7:34:52 pm
I guess it doesn’t qualify under the big list o’ big buildings, but this
http://www.stratospherehotel.com/stratosphere_tower.html
is a pretty cool building, too.
Leave it to the resident gambling junkie to point out a tall casino structure. The view at night is absolutely awesome, and the roller coaster is pretty cool, too. Nothing like twirling around a coaster at about 1100 feet up…
July 25th, 2006 at 8:08:41 pm
Oh Brendan, your so darn cute!
I love your lists of things to do before you die.
I hope you never stop thinking of things you must do.
July 25th, 2006 at 8:14:32 pm
How about that Tropical Storm Daniel coverage!
July 25th, 2006 at 9:43:17 pm
DrawingDead, would you by Chance (so to Speak :) be at all interested in a U.S. Senate Seat from Connecticut? I understand there may be an Opening on the Waiting list pretty soon…could be the Entrylevel to a prettygood Careertrack… :}
July 26th, 2006 at 5:24:49 am
If you really desire, I can show you #24 while you’re down for the GT game. It’s just a couple of blocks away from the stadium and it’s where my offices are located.
July 26th, 2006 at 6:43:19 am
Fordham Spire is a 50/50. It has gained some momentum in the last several weeks, but there is still a long way to go, including pre-sales on condo units in an increasing difficult residential market.
Trump’s building in Chicago, however, is under construction. It is fully capitalized with a $900 million construction loan from Deutchebank and into vertical construction. I heard somewhere that it took 600 concrete ‘truck-trips’ over 18 hours to pour the foundation mat.
July 26th, 2006 at 4:52:10 pm
Do you really think that your average Connecticut voter would vote for a pretty doggone conservative southern boy for the Senate?
If so, then hell yeah, sign me up.
Now where did Ms. Dead put that Foxwoods players card of hers…