Did you know CT is actually just another prototype structure for an even grander, more famous structure in New York?  It's called the Empire State Building.

 

I'd like to see the source for this one.  They were built at almost the exact same time, with the only similarity being the Art Deco architectural style.  Carew was certainly not a prototype and if one were to compare it to anything in New York, it would be Rockefeller Center.

Did you know CT is actually just another prototype structure for an even grander, more famous structure in New York?  It's called the Empire State Building.

 

I'd like to see the source for this one.  They were built at almost the exact same time, with the only similarity being the Art Deco architectural style.  Carew was certainly not a prototype and if one were to compare it to anything in New York, it would be Rockefeller Center.

 

As far as a reference goes:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carew_Tower

 

The building was designed by the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Associates, the designers of the Empire State Building. The Carew Tower, built before the Empire State Building was conceived, served as the basis for the design of the larger Empire State Building, as evidenced by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates' ability to produce the building drawings for the Empire State Building in just two weeks.

 

 

i only remember hearing references to rockefeller center as well

Hmmm. I always thought it was more like Rockefeller Center.

 

I think we need to reexamine how we're using the term prototype anyway. I think we're playing a little fast and loose with it myself. The Suspension Bridge is not a prototype of the Brooklyn Bridge. It's a predecessor. It wasn't designed and built to test the functionality of a bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn -- Roebling didn't have that job until when, 1870? Sure, he clearly used what he learned in Cincinnati and Waco in NY, but that doesn't make it a prototype. You can't apply that term ex post facto.

 

I think the  same holds true for the Carew as well. Sounds a little more like self-plagiarizing rather than prototyping.

hmm, interesting. right off i don't see the resemblence at all. i would have never guessed that by looking at them. but i have never thought to really compare them either.

 

still, i did not know that they both were designed by the same firm. so certainly there are some major connections and they learned many things on carew they prob incorporated into their later buildings.

 

as far as ny and the esb is concerned it's at least fair to call carew a predecessor i'd think, just like cleveland's old municipal stadium was a predecessor to yankee stadium.

 

down in the arcade of the carew tower they have a bunch of pannels about its history.  One of them talks about a cousin of the carew tower that was never built, but I think it was destined for Chicago.

great, now cramer is going to want to re examine the way we use the term cousin

down in the arcade of the carew tower they have a bunch of pannels about its history.  One of them talks about a cousin of the carew tower that was never built, but I think it was destined for Chicago.

 

Yeah...I read this as well.  This 'cousin' was supposed to be built along Grant Park in Chicago, it was also a larger version of what Carew is, but it was slightly different in design.  For some reason the Chicago project fell through, and the architect/developer moved on to Cincinnati and built something he was familiar with in Cincy (familiar being the project from Chicago).

^ oh no? i took that to mean chicago would have just had a similar building to carew, not that carew would not have been built at all.

You are correct about the Carew Tower's unbuilt cousin in Chicago.  Also, the only comparisons I have ever heard to New York are that the Carew Tower's mixed-use design principles were used in the Rockefeller Center as mentioned by someone above.  As far as the Carew and the ESB having the same architect, I don't know, but they don't really resemble each other much other than being Art Deco.

 

  I did not know that the two were produced by the same architect. That's fascinating! I always marvelled at the resemblance. I read that the Carew was originally supposed to have some kind of stainless steel cladding but late in the design they changed to brick to save money. The setbacks are certainly similar.

 

  Here's another piece of trivia.

 

  Rank all of the cities in Unites States by tallest building, considering only buildings built before WWII.

 

    The first is New York's Empire State Building. The second is Cincinnati's Carew Tower.

 

    (Did I say that right? Before 911, Cincinnati's Carew was the tallest building in the U.S. that was both the tallest building in the city and built before WWII.)

 

    Someone please verify.

 

 

yes I believe that is true, but is that something to celebrate? (NYC isn't first by choice)

I always thought it had more ties with Rockefeller Center than the Empire State Building.

    (Did I say that right? Before 911, Cincinnati's Carew was the tallest building in the U.S. that was both the tallest building in the city and built before WWII.)

 

I'm must be missing something.  What does 911 have to do with it?  

 

:?

After 911, the Empire State Building became NY's Tallest building, thus overtaking Carew as the only building that was the tallest in its city and pre-WWII

911 as in September 11th, 2001.  The World Trade Center was New York's tallest before they were destroyed.

    (Did I say that right? Before 911, Cincinnati's Carew was the tallest building in the U.S. that was both the tallest building in the city and built before WWII.)

 

I'm must be missing something.  What does 911 have to do with it?  

 

:?

After 911, the Empire State Building became NY's Tallest building, thus overtaking Carew as the only building that was the tallest in its city and pre-WWII

 

Okay. Got it. I was missing the signifigance that it was a pre-WWII building that held the title of tallest in a city, versus the tallest pre-WWII building in a city. The first case being relevent to 911, the second not.

> "I did not know that the two were produced by the same architect. That's fascinating! I always marvelled at the resemblance. I read that the Carew was originally supposed to have some kind of stainless steel cladding but late in the design they changed to brick to save money. The setbacks are certainly similar."

 

I read in a book (i cannot think of it off the top of my head) that the carew was supposed to be clad in stone, not stainless steel, wich in my mind would have made it even closer in resemblence to rockefeller center.

 

>I've never heard of switching to brick to save money before, lol.  I love the brick!

 

And the Empire State Building actually has a prefabricated exterior that was very quickly lifted into place on-site.  From what I've read the first example of the practice common everywhere today.  No doubt the Carew was perhaps the last building of that height to be built with brick considering the dearth of skyscraper construction from 1930 until the mid 1950's.