Great American Insurance Building at Queen City Square
Encyclopedia
The Great American Tower at Queen City Square, is a skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

. The tower, built by Western & Southern Financial Group
Western & Southern Financial Group
Western & Southern Financial Group, also commonly referred to as Western & Southern, is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based diversified family of financial services companies with assets owned, managed and under care in excess of $52 billion as of March, 2011...

, began construction in July 2008 and opened in January 2011 at a cost of $322 million. Half the building is occupied by the heaquarters of the Great American Insurance Company. It is currently the third tallest building in the state of Ohio.

Background

Western & Southern had floated the idea of constructing a tower for the last twenty years, following the last construction boom in Downtown Cincinnati
Downtown Cincinnati
Downtown Cincinnati is the central business district of Cincinnati, Ohio, and one of its 52 neighborhoods.-Geography:Downtown Cincinnati's streets are arranged in a grid configuration. It is bisected by Vine Street....

. In 2002 the project was revived. Plans called for a tower with over 800000 square feet (74,322.4 m²) of office space. When the tower opened in 2011, it was 660 feet (201.2 m) high, 86 feet (26.2 m) higher than the Carew Tower
Carew Tower
Carew Tower is the second tallest building in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. However, it is still the highest elevated building in the city. The Great American Insurance building is only taller because of the basement. Completed in 1930, it stands 49 stories tall in the heart of downtown,...

, which was previously the tallest building in Cincinnati. The building was reviewed and approved by the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority which determined whether its parameters conformed to the outline in the Cincinnati 2000 plan for downtown including a final approval by Cincinnati City Council on June 12, 2008.

Design

The building's architect, Gyo Obata
Gyo Obata
Gyo Obata is a significant American architect, the son of renowned painter Chiura Obata and his wife, Haruko Obata, a floral designer. In 1955, he co-founded global architectural firm HOK . He lives in St. Louis, Missouri and still works in HOK's St. Louis office...

, designed the building to include a top inspired by Diana, Princess of Wales's
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...

 tiara
Tiara
A tiara is a form of crown. There are two possible types of crown that this word can refer to.Traditionally, the word "tiara" refers to a high crown, often with the shape of a cylinder narrowed at its top, made of fabric or leather, and richly ornamented. It was used by the kings and emperors of...

. Gyo was flipping through books when he came upon a picture of Diana wearing a crown. "That's perfect. Here we have the crown of the building, and the nickname for the city is Queen City," said Joe Robertson of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum
HOK is a global architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and consulting firm. HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering firm and the "No. 1 role model for sustainable and high-performance design." HOK also is the second-largest interior design firm...

 remarking to Gyo when he first saw the picture. The building is constructed of glass and aluminum. It has met with approval from Sue Ann Painter, author of "Architecture in Cincinnati" (Ohio University Press, 2006), who believes the skyscraper's headdress recalls the iconic Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at , it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State...

. She continues to say that the building is somewhat conservative, but pays homage to the other skyscrapers in Cincinnati. Jay Chatterjee, a former dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning
University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning
The University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, commonly referred to as DAAP, is a college of the University of Cincinnati. Located in the university's main campus in Cincinnati, Ohio, DAAP is consistently ranked as one of the most prestigious design schools in the...

says that the design is similar to buildings constructed in the United States during the 1980s, that it does not break any new ground at all.

External links

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