Height Is Fleeting - Beauty Endures

Before the Devon Tower project was approved at the August 20, 2008, OCURA meeting, Jon Pickard of Pickard Chilton Architects Inc., the Design Architects for the project, had this to say: "Height is fleeting. Beauty is not."

Related articles
Initial Devon Tower Article, 8/20/2008
Oklahoma Skyscraper City Circa 1931
Also, see this SkyscraperPage.com forum thread
While most Oklahoma Citians (myself certainly included) are absolutely thrilled to be joining the list of United States cities which can rightly boast at least one very tall, contemporary, and iconic downtown (or elsewhere) building, this article focuses not only on the height of the building, but, as Mr. Pickard said, the fleeting nature of pure size.

THE RELATIVE SIZE. Before putting "size" into perspective, though, it is certainly a fine thing to spend some time, at least until the "newness" of this grand new Oklahoma City development wears off a little, taking great pride (and thanking Devon Energy & Larry Nichols, its CEO) for giving Oklahoma City tomorrow (meaning by 2012) something that it couldn't have rightly said much beyond 1931 when the First National Center and Ramsey Tower were finished in that year — relative to the rest of the country, at least one (in the 1931 instance, two) "tall" buildings relative to other cities in the country. When those two buildings were constructed in 1931, the Oklahoma City that then existed probably felt just as we do now.

In that time, for example, it appears that the tallest buildings in Los Angeles were several buildings in the 12-15 story range, at least as far as I was able to locate at SkyscraperPage.com as well as several other internet locations I reviewed. By comparison to our cousin up the turnpike, Tulsa, its tallest buildings in 1931 appear to have been 320 S. Boston (1929, 22 floors), Philtower (1928, 24 floors) and the Mayo Hotel (1925, 18 floors).

As noted in a Business Week article, utilizing only existing completed buildings as the measurement, if already built today, the 925' Devon Tower would be the 20th tallest building in the United States, according (the article said) to databases compiled by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Preferring to use the original source, I went there to do my digging. I was able to confirm that, if the Devon Tower existed today, the only cities with taller buildings in the United States would be Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Seattle, as shown in the map below:

Click the map for a larger view


More particularly, I assembled the list — click on any building name for a quick article elsewhere about the particular buildings below:

ACTUAL & DEVON TOWER
Color & Abbreviation Used Below

yellow = proposed

Str. = "stories"

	Feet	Str.	City	Name	Use	Done
1	1451	110	Chicago	Sears Tower	office	1974
2	1250	102	New York	Empire State Building	office	1931
3	1136	83	Chicago	Aon Center	office	1973
4	1127	100	Chicago	John Hancock Center	ofc/res	1969
5	1046	77	New York	Chrysler Building	office	1930
6	1046	52	New York	New York Times Tower	office	2007
7	1039	55	Atlanta	Bank of America Plaza	office	1993
8	1018	73	Los Angeles	U.S. Bank Tower	office	1990
9	1007	60	Chicago	AT&T Corporate Center	office	1989
10	1002	75	Houston	JP Morgan Chase Tower	office	1982
11	995	64	Chicago	Two Prudential Plaza	office	1990
12	992	71	Houston	Wells Fargo Plaza	office	1983
13	974	57	Philadelphia	Comcast Center	office	2008
14	961	66	Chicago	311 South Wacker Drive	office	1990
15	952	67	New York	American International Building	office	1932
16	947	57	Cleveland	Key Tower	office	1991
17	945	61	Philadelphia	One Liberty Place	office	1987
18	933	76	Seattle	Columbia Center	office	1984
19	927	71	New York	The Trump Building	office	1930
20	925	54	Oklahoma City	Devon Tower	office	2012

To put the "20th ranking" into better and more realistic perspective, though, the Devon Tower would be 25th if compared to buildings whose construction is already underway. Those buildings are included in the list below.

ACTUAL, UNDER CONSTRUCTION & DEVON
Colors & Abbreviation Used Below

coral = under construction	Str. = "stories"
yellow=proposed

	Feet	Str.	City	Name	Use	Done
1	2000	150	Chicago	Chicago Spire	res	2010
2	1776	82	New York	World Trade Center One	office	2011
3	1451	110	Chicago	Sears Tower	office	1974
4	1362	96	Chicago	Trump International Hotel & Tower	hotel/res	2009
5	1250	102	New York	Empire State Building	office	1931
6	1200	54	New York	Bank of America Tower	office	2008
7	1136	83	Chicago	Aon Center	office	1973
8	1127	100	Chicago	John Hancock Center	ofc/res	1969
9	1047	89	Chicago	Waterview Tower	hotel/res	2010
10	1046	77	New York	Chrysler Building	office	1930
11	1046	52	New York	New York Times Tower	office	2007
12	1039	55	Atlanta	Bank of America Plaza	office	1993
13	1018	73	Los Angeles	U.S. Bank Tower	office	1990
14	1007	60	Chicago	AT&T Corporate Center	office	1989
15	1002	75	Houston	JP Morgan Chase Tower	office	1982
16	995	64	Chicago	Two Prudential Plaza	office	1990
17	992	71	Houston	Wells Fargo Plaza	office	1983
18	974	57	Philadelphia	Comcast Center	office	2008
19	961	66	Chicago	311 South Wacker Drive	office	1990
20	952	67	New York	American International Building	office	1932
21	947	57	Cleveland	Key Tower	office	1991
22	945	61	Philadelphia	One Liberty Place	office	1987
23	933	76	Seattle	Columbia Center	office	1984
24	927	71	New York	The Trump Building	office	1930
25	925	54	Oklahoma City	Devon Tower	office	2012

Last, keeping in mind that Devon Tower's construction is not scheduled to begin until 2009, it must be regarded as a "proposed" building. Throwing the "proposed" buildings shown at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat into the mix, and assuming that all such buildings would be built according to present plans, the Devon Tower drops down to 35th in the list, below — 35th is not at all shabby, but a relatively quick "fall" from 20th to 35th does make the point — height is fleeting!

Various internet and other sources put together "lists" of tall buildings and some include "proposed" buildings. For example, this Wikipedia page contains some which are not listed in the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings database. However, spot-checking the Wikipedia article reveals that it includes buildings which do not match the criteria for being included as a "proposed" building at CTBUH. For example, the Wikipedia article includes the theoretical Trans National Place in Boston at 1,175 feet even though the height was nixed by the FAA in May 2008, as reported in the Boston Globe. An example that both sources include even though the project has been suspended due to financing is the Waterview Tower in Chicago. That said, the Wikipedia and CTBUH listings are not terribly dissimilar, even though the Wikipedia article is more lax in its inclusions, and there are other examples of this such as the still theoretical and unapproved Madison Square Garden projects.

Given the strong CTBUH credentials, I've chosen to use its list, shown below, also relied upon by this Business Week article. The CTBUH criteria for including a "proposed" building are the following:

When is a tall building considered to be a ‘real’ proposal?
A 'real' proposed tall building can be considered such if it fulfills all of the following criteria:
1. Has a specific site,
2. Has a developer / financer,
3. Has a full professional design team who are in the process of progressing the design beyond the conceptual stage,
4. Has a dialogue with the local planning authorities with a view to obtaining full legal permission for construction,
5. Has a full intention to progress the building to construction and completion.

Only buildings that are fully in the public domain and fulfill all the above criteria will be included in the CTBUH 'proposed' building listings. Also, note that due to the changing nature of early stage designs and client information restrictions, some height data for 'proposed' tall buildings that appears on the CTBUH 'Tallest Lists' is unconfirmed.

Given that definition, as of the CTBUH July 2008 databases, and adding the Devon Tower which was approved this week in August, the list looks like this:

ACTUAL, UNDER CONSTRUCTION & PROPOSED
Colors & Abbreviations Used Below

coral = under construction	Str. = "stories"
yellow=proposed	???? = no date stated

	Feet	Str.	City	Name	Use	Done
1	2000	150	Chicago	Chicago Spire	res	2010
2	1776	82	New York	World Trade Center One	office	2011
3	1510	63	Philadelphia	American Commerce Center	ofc/hotel	2012
4	1451	110	Chicago	Sears Tower	office	1974
5	1362	96	Chicago	Trump International Hotel & Tower	hotel/res	2009
6	1350	79	New York	Two World Trade Center	office	2012
7	1250	102	New York	Empire State Building	office	1931
8	1240	79	New York	Three World Trade Center	office	2012
9	1200	54	New York	Bank of America Tower	office	2008
10	1200	80	San Francisco	Transbay Transit Center & Tower	office	????
11	1154	75	New York	Torre Verre	hotel/res	????
12	1136	83	Chicago	Aon Center	office	1973
13	1127	100	Chicago	John Hancock Center	ofc/res	1969
14	1057	70	Nashville	Signature Tower	office	2010
15	1049	70	Miami	One Bayfront Plaza	ofc/hotel	2014
16	1047	89	Chicago	Waterview Tower	hotel/res	2010
17	1046	77	New York	Chrysler Building	office	1930
18	1046	52	New York	New York Times Tower	office	2007
19	1039	55	Atlanta	Bank of America Plaza	office	1993
20	1022	93	Miami	Empire World Condo Tower	res	????
21	1022	93	Miami	Empire World Apartment Tower	res	????
22	1018	73	Los Angeles	U.S. Bank Tower	office	1990
23	1007	60	Chicago	AT&T Corporate Center	office	1989
24	1002	75	Houston	JP Morgan Chase Tower	office	1982
25	995	64	Chicago	Two Prudential Plaza	office	1990
26	992	71	Houston	Wells Fargo Plaza	office	1983
27	975	64	New York	Four World Trade Center	office	2012
28	974	57	Philadelphia	Comcast Center	office	2008
29	961	66	Chicago	311 South Wacker Drive	office	1990
30	952	67	New York	American International Building	office	1932
31	947	57	Cleveland	Key Tower	office	1991
32	945	61	Philadelphia	One Liberty Place	office	1987
33	933	76	Seattle	Columbia Center	office	1984
34	927	71	New York	The Trump Building	office	1930
35	925	54	Oklahoma City	Devon Tower	office	2012

To be sure, no certainty exists that any or all or just some of the "proposed" buildings ever get built, at least as they are proposed. For example, concerning the twin Empire World Miami projects, this South Florida Business Journal article concerning possible fraud issues relating to the developer.

BEAUTY ENDURES. Soooo ... as proud as we are to be joining the rarefied air of those relatively few United States cities which can rightly boast of at least one very tall, contemporary, and iconic downtown (or elsewhere) building, "height is fleeting." Larry Nichols wisely tasked Devon's design architects by saying that size is not the object, beauty IS (my paraphrased words, not his actual). So, when some successor of mine writes a much later article like I did in The First National Center, 75 Years Later, I'm pretty sure that the beauty we see in the drawings today will still be seen by such a writer 75 years from now.


Go To Top