rev:text
| - In solidarity with the City of Cleveland's perennially rough treatment at the hands of wealthy people who once owned or played for its sports teams, I'm writing a review of the good old Terminal Tower.
What's the Terminal Tower? It's a 708-foot skyscraper in Cleveland. Why is it important? Well, besides being the most iconic non-sports building in Cleveland, it was the tallest building in the world not in New York City from its completion in 1928 until 1953. Yes, there were taller buildings in the Big Apple, but it's pretty impressive (or some other adjective) that the biggest thing this side of Gotham wasn't in Chicago or Boston but in Cleveland. And from 1953 until 1964, the Terminal Tower was the tallest skyscraper in North America outside of New York.
When I lived in Cleveland, I always loved the Terminal Tower. It helped me orient myself when I got confused by the area's curving streets, and it's much nicer looking than the Key Tower (which is taller than it), Jacobs Field, and the court building they finished in 2000.
They also light it up with different colors depending on what's going on. I moved to Cleveland the summer they got the Browns back, and the Terminal Tower was lit with orange lights to celebrate this. I think there's also a bald-eagle nest way up there.
The observation deck is pretty cool, although I think they closed it after September 11. In general, it's pretty interesting how the tower itself is integrated into the supporting buildings below it. I think the first time I took one of the elevators up, I wasn't even aware that I was in the tower itself.
|