Huntington Tower
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "about". Template:Use American English Template:Infobox building Huntington Tower, earlier known as FirstMerit Tower, First National Bank Building, the First Central Tower and the First Central Trust Building, is a skyscraper in Akron, Ohio. The centerpiece of downtown Akron, it sits in the Cascade Plaza at the corner of S Main St and East Mill Street.[1] The Template:Convert tower[2] has been the city's tallest building since its completion in 1931.[3]
The 27-story building is art deco in style and is covered in glazed architectural terra-cotta.[4] Its lobby is built of Tennessee marble, white brick, and terra cotta, and features a large banking hall with arched windows.[3]
The tower is also noted for its role in local broadcasting. Studios for WAKR radio were originally housed in the ground level from 1940 until 1953.[5] The top of the building also held a television mast originally used by WAKR's TV adjacent, WAKR-TV (now WVPX-TV) and WAKR-FM.[5] Erected in 1953 for WAKR-TV's sign-on[6][7] and later donated to PBS member station WEAO, the antenna reached a height of Template:Convert but was removed in 2019.[2][8]
History
The tower replaced the neo-Gothic Hamilton Building, completed on the site in 1900.[3]
Around 2000, the tower was given a $2.5 million facelift, including a $1.8 million restoration of the tower's terra-cotta, brick, and limestone facade. The painstaking process involved the removal of some 450 blocks weighing up to Template:Convert for cleaning and reassembly. Over 1,100 other pieces of the masonry and tilework were repaired on site.[4] In 2007, the tower underwent another restoration. Completed by Cleveland-based VIP Restorations, it included repointing of all masonry and terra-cotta joints, repairs to the windows, structural restoration, and a restoration of the 13th floor parapet.[9] VIP Restorations also helped to get the building placed on the National Register of Historic Places.[10][9]
The building's name changed after Huntington acquired FirstMerit in 2016.[11]
In 2019, Huntington announced the building was for sale.[12]
References
External links
- National Register of Historic Places nomination form for First National Bank Tower
- Template:Commons category-inline
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Template:Skyscraperpage
- ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Template:Unbulleted list citebundle
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ a b FirstMerit, VIP Restoration Template:Webarchive
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNational Register Database - ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".