# DISCUSS: Best 70's Skyscraper



## Wu-Gambino (Dec 13, 2002)

Discuss this week's topic here.


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## MattSal (Dec 24, 2004)

Buildings from the Top 200 list that are from the 70's:

4 - Sears Tower, Chicago
14 - Aon Center, Chicago
32 - First Canadian Place, Toronto
50 - Citigroup Center, New York City
55 - Renaissance Tower, Dallas
68 - Water Tower Place, Chicago
69 - Aon Center, Los Angeles
72 - Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco
81 - U.S. Steel Tower, Pittsburgh
118 - IDS Tower, Minneapolis
121 - John Hancock Tower, Boston
128 - Sunshine 60 Building, Tokyo
131 - Commerce Court West, Toronto
162 - 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York City
163 - One Penn Plaza, New York City
170 - MLC Centre, Sydney
175 - One Astor Plaza, New York City
180 - One Liberty Plaza, New York City
184 - Centerpoint Energy Plaza, Houston
192 - Shinjuku Mitsui Building, Tokyo
195 - ARCO Center, Los Angeles
198 - Shinjuku Center Building, Tokyo
200 - Carlton Center Office Tower, Johannesburg

Some pretty good buildings from this era, including #4, #14, #32, #50, #55, #72, #118, and #170.


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## Monkey (Oct 1, 2002)

I think we should be able to nominate the WTC, even though the towers are no longer standing.


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## MattSal (Dec 24, 2004)

^Good point. I forgot about those, since they weren't on Emporis' list.

I think the criteria is "best building finished in the 1970's", so the WTC would certainly qualify.


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## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)

I nominate the WTC, Sears Tower and OCBC Centre in Singapore.

I feel these have innovative and unique structural systems.

For the OCBC Centre (200m) by IM Pei, it consists of 2 cores, with the floor spaces supported in the middle, like rungs on a ladder.

Some construction pics from the 70s:




























and today:


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## RafflesCity (Sep 11, 2002)

@MattSal

why the Renaissance Tower Dallas?


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## Skybean (Jun 16, 2004)

I nominate Commerce Court West completed in 1972 by I.M Pei in Toronto. It was the largest stainless steel-clad building in the world when completed.

Height (struct.) 239 m 784 ft


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## InitialD18 (Sep 17, 2002)

how about Jardine House(159m) in Hong Kong
it was the tallest in Asia when it was built in 1973


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## nathanh6686 (Jun 14, 2005)

The Transamerica Building


hometown bias i guess


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## MattSal (Dec 24, 2004)

RafflesCity said:


> @MattSal
> 
> why the Renaissance Tower Dallas?


Good point, I was getting it confused with another skyscraper, lol. :lol:

I do think that the OCBC Center is a great building though. Nice choice. kay:


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## Küsel (Sep 16, 2004)

Not my fav decade... no real style and boring, unprogressive architecture... Transamerican is okay and the WTC one of the great classics!


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## Jacquet2 (Apr 10, 2004)

Don't forget the tower "credit lyonnais in LYON Part-Dieu


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## [email protected] (Jun 29, 2004)

aon chicago
sears
hancock
montparnasse(Paris)


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## Whiked918 (Aug 13, 2005)

nathanh6686 said:


> The Transamerica Building
> 
> 
> hometown bias i guess


My pick too. This in my opinion is the most creative sky scraper of the 70's. No disrespect to the others though.


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## cincobarrio (Aug 25, 2004)

World Trade Center - New York, NY


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

1) World Trade Centre
2) Sear Tower
3) Transamerica Pyramid


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## Art Deco (Nov 18, 2005)

World Trade Center


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## dirkholtkamp (May 13, 2004)

WANCH said:


> 1) World Trade Centre
> 2) Sear Tower
> 3) Transamerica Pyramid


Same list for me.


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## Rothschild (Nov 27, 2005)

Dubai World Trade Centre


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## ToRoNto g-town (Nov 26, 2005)

1)Sears tower-chicago
2)world trade center-NY
3) FCP-toronto -gotta put one from my home town


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## red_eagle_1982 (Jan 24, 2009)

WTC, hands-down.


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## The other Dude (Jan 30, 2008)

sears, its epic and still one of the biggest.


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## TheShark (Feb 28, 2009)

red_eagle_1982 said:


> WTC, hands-down.


totally agree... it was such an impressive piece of architecture


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## germantower (May 23, 2006)

^^ What was besides their height and masse so impressive? I also love them somehow, but all in all it were just two gigantic boxes with many many many vertical steal beams and arches at the bottom. I think we all overrate their appearance after 911 (including me)! During their construction time they were hated after they were completed many architectural papers wrote bad critics about them.

My favourites are the Citygroup Center, the Transamerica Pyramid errrr and if i remember more towers from this era i will write another post.

Cheers


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## Quall (Feb 15, 2006)

Jardine House, HK


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## Vladivostok53 (Feb 28, 2009)

JmB & Co. said:


> Very similar to Buenos Aires !


You Right


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## 69Ketchup (Apr 17, 2009)

TRANSAMERICA I AGREE.


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## Shera (Oct 11, 2009)

1) Westin Peachtree Atlanta (tallest hotel in the world for a couple decades, revolving restaurant on top and high-speed scenic elevator outside the building). I've slept in the luxury suite on the 58th floor, near the top (72nd). It's a charm inside the building. Tallest building in Atlanta for nearly 15 years.

2) Transamerica pyramid, San Francisco --It's in a class of its own

3) Sears Tower, Chicago -- tallest roof in the world until a couple years ago

4) Citigroup, NYC -- still such a modern building 3 decades later

5) Jardine House, HK -- all those laundry washing machine windows! An HK icon for a decade before the skyscraper boom of the 90's

Honorable mention: Parque Central, Caracas (although it looks so desperately in need of renovation)

WTC which no longer exists -- the most impressive skyscraper of the 20th century


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## ryanr (Sep 11, 2002)

Citigroup Centre, NYC is my choice as well. It looks so modern, I didn't even know it was completed in the 70s. Could have easily been a product of the 90s.

Sears and World Trade are my runner ups.


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## aceflamingo23 (Jul 16, 2009)

William R Snodgrass Tennessee Tower!


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## DZH22 (Aug 9, 2009)

Boston's John Hancock. Possibly the world's most elegant "box". It's actually a parallelogram, and depending on the angle can look 2-dimensional. Completed in 1976 and remains Boston's tallest building today.

Pictures by me


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## kweenie (Feb 26, 2008)

citigroup center (NYC)
1 liberty plaza (NYC)
transamerica piramide (SF)


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Commerce Court, Toronto









http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=toronto+cityscape&s=rec&page=18









http://www.flickr.com/photos/mistagregory/3258472871/sizes/l/in/photostream/









http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Toronto_from_Above.jpg


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## po-boy (Jan 11, 2010)

Not the best decade overall, but some nice buildings. My personal favorites are:

1. CitiGroup Center










2. Westin Peachtree










I also like the Jardine House and TransAmerica fairly well. I respected the WTC of course, but never really liked the design. Same goes for the Sears Tower.


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## HK999 (Jul 17, 2009)

my top 5:
#1 WTC - need i say more? 
#2 sears tower - still one the tallest towers 
#3 the transamerica pyramid - unique design
#4 citigroup building - still modern
#5 royal bank plaza south - shiny!


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## deranged (Jan 22, 2009)

1. Royal Bank Plaza, Toronto
2. Parque Central, Caracas
3. World Trade Center, NYC


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## marstrott (Feb 10, 2011)

1. Citigroup Center
2. Renaissance Tower
3. Aon Center
4. Water Tower Place
5. Hancock Place


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## ThatOneGuy (Jan 13, 2012)

1. World Trade Center
2. First Canadian Place
3. Sears Tower
4. AON Center (Chicago)
5. Citigroup Center


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## ANTAURO (May 27, 2012)

they think this tower lima civic center


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## melrocks50 (Apr 9, 2009)

Here are some of my favorites in no particular order

Jardine House, HK, 1973










Sompo Japan Building, Tokyo, 1976










Keio Plaza Hotel, Tokyo, 1971










Shinjuku Sumitomo Building, Tokyo, 1974










OCBC Center, Singapore, 1976










Tour Gan, Paris, 1974










IDS Center, Minneapolis, 1972










1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, 1971


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