Demolition of the Landmark Tower (380 ft., 420 with clock)
#51
Posted 24 November 2005 - 08:48 AM
http://www.dfw.com/m...ss/13250306.htm
#52 gdvanc
Posted 24 November 2005 - 11:38 AM
BTW, I think the S-T got their caption wrong. I don't see any front-end loaders in the picture. Maybe they switched pictures without changing the caption.
#53
Posted 25 November 2005 - 07:14 PM
#54
Posted 23 December 2005 - 10:28 AM
I thought I would take the time to give a little history of the site and the building. The history of the building and the design changes that were made have probably been a contributing factor to its demise.
In 1899, the Fort Worth Board of Trade built their building on the northwest corner of 7th and Houston. The Board of Trade was an organization similar to the Chamber of Commerce. This building housed the Continental National Bank until 1920, when the bank moved into bigger headquarters in the W.T. Waggoner Building. In 1948, the bank announced that it had purchased the Board of Trade Building and that it would construct a new "modern" bank facility on the site. In 1949, the Board of Trade Building was demolished.
Between 1948 and 1950, the actual plans were announced for a 28 story brick tower. It had a red granite base and it would be an International Style building constructed out of masonry. The new bank was designed by Preston M. Geren Associates. The two basement levels were excavated and construction started, but the local economy took a nose dive and the Korean War started. Before the structure was even rising out of the ground, the bank announced plans to only build enough space for the bank itself with no speculative office space in the building. In 1952, the Continental National Bank opened its new 4 story bank on the northwest corner of 7th and Houston, across the street from the First National Bank and one block north of its previous home.
Shortly after the bank opened, the economy picked up and the bank decided to complete the building, only this time, they wanted to change the design of the tower to include a signature icon for the building and add two more floors to the building. The bank executives came up with an idea to place the "Worlds Largest Revolving Clock" on top of the building. The clock would be placed on top of the roof and increased the height of the building to 420 feet. The building was never designed to handle a large moving object placed on the roof or the two extra floors, and remember, the foundation, two basement levels, and 4 floors above grade had already been constructed. In order to erect the clock, the entire building had to be redesigned. Somehow, the foundation was strengthened and the columns already in the building were beefed up. In order to lighten the weight of the building, the architects changed the exterior building material to aluminum panels. Not only did this lighten the weight of the building, but it also allowed the tower to take on a more International Style design. The revolving clock was designed so that its weight was distributed to all of the interior columns of the building; thereby, decreasing the additional load created for any one column. However, even with this structural upgrade for the clock, many people complained about the building swaying excessively during high winds.
In 1957, the completed building opened without the clock. The clock was being fabricated and from what I could tell, it was erected later in the year. The clock held several "World's Largest" records. It was the World's Largest Four Sided Sign, the World's Largest Digital Clock, and the World's Largest Revolving Clock. The sign itself was about 32 feet tall and about 45 feet across each side. Two sides of the sign read the time. The digital numbers were created by standard flood lights placed in a grid. The other two sides of the sign had 30' tall white letters with green neon on them that read "CNB" for Continental National Bank. The sign quit revolving in 1978 and finally stopped running in the late 1980's or early 1990's. In 1982, Continental National Bank moved to their new headquarters in Continental Plaza, now Carter+Burgess Plaza.
The building has been vacant since about 1990 and several plans were proposed to convert the building into residential, but finally XTO purchased the building on the Courthouse steps in 2004. XTO was not able to find a way to economically restore the building due to excessive amounts of asbestos, lack of structural integrity due to the changes in design, upgrading to current building codes, inefficient floor plate, damage created by the 2000 tornado, and damage created by the previous building owners. Demolition permits were quietly filed in October, and now there are visible signs of the demolition process.
Edited by John T Roberts, 02 October 2016 - 07:25 PM.
#55
Posted 23 December 2005 - 11:26 AM
#56
Posted 23 December 2005 - 11:52 AM
#57
Posted 24 December 2005 - 12:53 AM
#58
Posted 24 December 2005 - 08:45 AM
#59
Posted 24 December 2005 - 09:03 AM
An even larger transfer girder sits on the third floor of the Worthington Hotel where it spans Houston Street. There are four of them across that building, each aligning with the column grids going north and south. The span is greater (80 feet, which is almost as wide as the Landmark Tower), more columns sit on top of it, but only 10 floors of building are above it. From what I can remember, those tranfer girders are 12 feet tall. The second floor "bridge" is hung below those members spanning the street.
#60
Posted 06 January 2006 - 08:10 AM
#61
Posted 06 January 2006 - 01:37 PM
Does Wood have a gallery anywhere in town?
www.iheartfw.com
#62
Posted 06 January 2006 - 10:38 PM
Another interesting thing to note is that when the Landmark is demolished, all of the buildings in the photograph will be gone except for the W.T. Waggoner. The W.T. is the skyscraper that we only see a part of on the left side of the picture.
#63
Posted 07 January 2006 - 04:34 PM
Here is a shot taken by Bill Wood on November 17, 1955.
Wonderful photo I have never seen! (and I am familiar with most of them)
Is there any problem if I use this photo on one of my historical photo pages
for John's website? I have been planning to do some pages on the great
local banks, including CNB...and this photo is a MUST.
Thanks.
Jack White
#64
Posted 02 February 2006 - 03:18 PM
--
Kara B.
#65
Posted 02 February 2006 - 03:28 PM
In both you can see the clock platform being built.
Here is a nice close up of the clock before it came down.
Anybody got the Star Telegram photo from 86 when the CNB letters were removed. It was a good color photo of the "C" being desmantled.
Jack I've seen many of your photos at UTA. Nice collection!
Anyonce have more pics of the CNB in it's prime?
How about pics of the clock being built?
John
#66
Posted 02 February 2006 - 03:33 PM
Walking by Landmark Tower today, I noticed there's a very large hole in the eastern side of the building. Very large. You can see the whole gutted lobby now. Took a pic - will post later when I get it online.
As in facing Houston St.? There's been a very large hole in the north wall for quite a while, but one facing Houston would be new, I believe.
#67
Posted 02 February 2006 - 03:48 PM
As in facing Houston St.? There's been a very large hole in the north wall for quite a while, but one facing Houston would be new, I believe.
Correct - facing Houston. I was surprised by it - I don't remember it at all the last time I passed by. And when I say huge, I mean *huge.* Takes up most of that side of the building in length, and extends about halfway up the reddish marble (?) part of the base. As I was walking by, there was a guy on a lift banging at the marble further up, so it may get bigger.
It's really big - you can see pretty much all of the inside of the lobby. Sidewalk is now fenced off around it IIRC.
--
Kara B.
#68
Posted 02 February 2006 - 07:17 PM
--
Kara B.
#69
Posted 02 February 2006 - 11:07 PM
Secondly, the steel structure at the top of the building is not technically the clock platform. All of the appendages at the top of the building had other purposes. I've actually explained the other purposes in other threads, but in a nutshell, the two story portion on the west side of the building is elevator overrun. Traction elevators require a certain distance in the shaft above the top floor and an additional floor on top of that to house the pulley for the cable. The longer the run, the greater the distance on top. The one story portion of the penthouse on the building served as mechanical space. Originally the cooling tower was placed behind a screen on top of this portion of the roof. Then the clock was added over the cooling tower. By the way, this was really a dumb idea. When the cooling tower finally had to be replaced, there was no way to remove and replace it with the huge revolving clock on top of it.
#70
Posted 02 February 2006 - 11:13 PM
Welcome to the forum, Atomic Glee. Thanks for posting the pictures. First of all, the large "hole" on the Houston Street facade is not really a hole. It was where the glass storefront was located. Now will be a good chance to look inside the building to discover how the banking lobby was framed in steel.
I stand corrected. I think that the window was so ingrained in my mind that I never noticed, and now that it's gone it looked like a huge new hole. It's obvious now that I look at the pics that that was the window. D'oh!
--
Kara B.
#71
Posted 05 February 2006 - 10:20 AM
I hope you enjoy these demolition photographs taken on Saturday, February 4, 2006. Overall base:
East Side:
North Side:
From 6th and Houston:
#72
Posted 05 February 2006 - 12:12 PM
#73
Posted 05 February 2006 - 12:51 PM
#74
Posted 05 February 2006 - 02:52 PM
Bill Sievers
Natick, Mass.
#75
Posted 05 February 2006 - 08:44 PM
This is one building that I see no reason at all to mourn. While it did support a well loved and possibly historic clock, if you look at the tacky sheathing that covered the building you find the essence of the worst of the 50's. Never much to look at, and obviously cheaply covered, no matter how well the interior construction may or may not have been done.
XTO should get an award for taking it down.
Clean it out, then implode it and move on to something else...
Pete Charlton
The Fort Worth Gazette blog
The Lost Antique Maps of Fort Worth on CDROM
Website: Antique Maps of Texas
Large format reproductions of original antique and vintage Texas & southwestern maps
#76
Posted 05 February 2006 - 09:43 PM
#77
Posted 05 February 2006 - 10:17 PM
This is a building that has undergone too many changes early in its history and too much damage when it was vacant to be saved. I to lament the removal of the clock, which was really the only thing that made the building significant. I also lament the passing of the building on the skyline. Hopefully, within the next few years, XTO will need to grow beyond the Waggoner, Baker, Petroleum, and 600 Houston buildings. If that happens, then a new HQ building on the site of the Landmark Tower won't be far fetched.
#78
Posted 05 February 2006 - 11:47 PM
I hope you enjoy these demolition photographs taken on Saturday, February 4, 2006.
How can I enjoy them???
Although not the tallest and prettiest, it still shrinks our anemic skyline. If XTO does build something, I wont accept anything 1 story less than the Lanmark tower. The same hight or higher should be the goal
#79
Posted 06 February 2006 - 12:14 AM
If XTO does build something, I wont accept anything 1 story less than the Lanmark tower.
Careful. I bet you're gonna keep XTO execs up at nights worrying about your displeasure.
Anemic skyline? Yea, it's not NYC, but this is a building that only really makes an impact when you're looking at it from the East (much less so from the West).
#80
Posted 06 February 2006 - 12:15 AM
Be careful what you wish for.
www.iheartfw.com
#81
Posted 06 February 2006 - 12:33 AM
If XTO does build something, I wont accept anything 1 story less than the Lanmark tower.
Careful. I bet you're gonna keep XTO execs up at nights worrying about your displeasure.
Anemic skyline? Yea, it's not NYC, but this is a building that only really makes an impact when you're looking at it from the East (much less so from the West).
I'm hoping that the Omni hotel will fill in that void (that the Landmark tower will leave) for that eastern view. I hear it will be as tall or taller than Landmark.
#82
Posted 06 February 2006 - 12:38 AM
#83
Posted 06 February 2006 - 06:56 PM
#84
Posted 06 February 2006 - 08:16 PM
The Houston Street side
Close-up of additional removals on Houston Street side
From Houston Street
Big new removals on 7th Street side
Close-up of 7th Street side and Bobcat on 2nd floor
More on 7th Street side
--
Kara B.
#85
Posted 06 February 2006 - 08:20 PM
#86
Posted 06 February 2006 - 08:25 PM
#87 ghughes
Posted 06 February 2006 - 10:03 PM
#88
Posted 06 February 2006 - 10:26 PM
Can someone please explain what's going on with all the pre-destruction work? What is the advantage of removing so much of the building at the lower floors?
The levels to receive the dynamite charges must be free of all construction in order to keep building materials from becoming projectiles. As more of the building is prepared for demolition, we will probably find several levels in the lower and mid sections of the building will be cleared of all or most construction. Also, I noticed this evening that more excavation is being made on the north side of the building. The hole is getting wider and longer.
It's almost amazing, when you see all of those tranfer girders on the inside, to think that the building won't meet today's structural requirements. If you think about it, those transfer girders might actually not be strong enough to really support 28 floors of building above them for today's uses or codes.
#89
Posted 07 February 2006 - 02:49 PM
Wow, the progress looks really interesting, thanks for the great photos John and Atomic! So, implosion in March, right?
I saw an email today stating it is scheduled for Saturday, March 18 between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.
Erik France
#90
Posted 07 February 2006 - 03:42 PM
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFFFORT WORTH --
The old Landmark Tower, once known for its revolving rooftop clock, tentatively will be imploded March 18.
The 30-story building will be blown up between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., the city said. XTO Energy, owner of the building, said the date is tentative, but not yet firm. The city is proposing a safety perimeter of several blocks around the site.
“Streets will be re-opened within a few hours after implosion,’’ the city said in a release.
XTO has not decided what it will do with the land, although it briefly considered building a high-rise office tower at the site.
Landmark Tower was completed in 1952 by Continental National Bank with only four stories. By 1956, 26 additional floors were built. XTO bought the building, also once known as the Texas Building, in January 2004 for $5.5 million at a foreclosure auction. XTO already owned parking lots around the building.
The previous owner was unable to pull of a $62 million renovation to turn the building into a residential high-rise. The interior of the building as been stripped, and all asbestos removed.
#91
Posted 08 February 2006 - 12:23 AM
Landmark Tower could be imploded next month
By SANDRA BAKER
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH — The demolition of the 30-story Landmark Tower in downtown Fort Worth has been set by the city for March 18 and a raffle may decide who pushes the button to start the implosion, city and company officials said Tuesday.
But officials at XTO Energy, the building’s owner, say that date could change as the pre-demolition work proceeds.
“We’re not for sure yet,” said Joy Webster, XTO’s vice president of facilities. “This permit had to be filed, but it can be extended. As the demolition proceeds, the date is still being defined.”
The city’s Transportation and Public Works office on Tuesday issued a statement regarding the implosion and street closures that will begin on Monday, March 13 if the date holds. By the time of the demolition, a 12-block area around Landmark Tower, at Seventh and Houston streets, that has been designated as the safety perimeter, will be closed for a few hours, the city said.
Webster said XTO Energy is planning to sell raffle tickets for a chance to push the button that ignites the explosives that will take down the building. Details are still being worked out, but a downtown charity will benefit from the ticket sales, she said.
Midwest Wrecking in Fort Worth began general demolition work on the building in mid-November. Demolition Dynamics in Franklin, Tenn., is handling the implosion. The company imploded Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Florida and Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta.
David Densmore, president of Midwest Wrecking, said Tuesday that about 60 percent of the preparation work for the implosion is completed. The exterior of some of the lower floors has been removed, exposing the building’s steel structure.
Midwest Wrecking is now preparing the columns in the building to let the building fall, and beginning in the next day or so, a metal mesh netting will be wrapped around the structure that will hold in debris during the implosion, Densmore said.
Most of the building will fall into a 30-foot basement area that has been cleared below the building and into a 20-foot trench that has been dug to the north of the building. The trench will also be extended to the west side of the building, he said.
The huge piles of concrete and debris that now sit on the lot will be spread to the north and west of the building to serve as a barrier to direct the downflow of air from the building’s collapse upward, and away from adjacent buildings, Densmore said.
XTO bought Landmark Tower for $5.5 million in a foreclosure sale in January 2004. The former office building has been vacant for about 15 years. At one time, a developer planned to renovate the structure into luxury condos, but his company fell into bankruptcy and the building was foreclosed on.
Street closures will begin on Friday, March 17 at 9 a.m., when two lanes on Throckmorton, Houston, Sixth and Seventh streets, around the building will be closed to accommodate trailers and other demolition equipment. Houston and Seventh streets will be completely closed at 6 p.m. that evening.
The demolition is scheduled for between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday, March 18.
The safety perimeter stretches from Taylor Street on the west, Commerce Street on the east, Eighth Street on the south, and Fifth Street on the north.
The command center will likely be on the east side of the Fritz Lanham Federal Building, about a block south of the building.
FINALLY!!
It's just such an eyesore.
#92
Posted 08 February 2006 - 09:58 AM
From Houston:
From 7th Street, one little detail that I hope gets saved (and that I'd love to have) - that ornate little round mail door (I believe that's what it is):
Details of the interior structure from Houston:
From 7th Street:
--
Kara B.
#93
Posted 08 February 2006 - 01:46 PM
March 18th.Hmmm?
Just in time for our quarterly BMOC event. Hee hee.
All-nighter is All GOOOOD.
www.iheartfw.com
#94
Posted 08 February 2006 - 03:53 PM
#95
Posted 08 February 2006 - 06:08 PM
#97 David Love
Posted 08 February 2006 - 07:17 PM
My place should be presentable by mid March, making some serious progress lately.
Going to have to add some air to my dolly tires, to lump one of those.
#98
Posted 08 February 2006 - 08:32 PM
I'm up for an implosion party. I wonder if I could get XTO to donate proceeds of the implosion button pushing raffle to NTHT, Inc.?
#99
Posted 08 February 2006 - 08:58 PM
It seems ironic to me how you can see the new edifice on the front of the Simpson Building (nee Baker) through the hole cut in the Landmark Tower on that last picture up there from Atomic Glee.
I was hoping somebody would notice that.
I'll definitely be there for the implosion, with at least one still camera (probably two, my girlfriend would probably love to take some) and most likely a DV camcorder going as well. Just need to figure out the best place to get.
--
Kara B.
#100
Posted 08 February 2006 - 09:25 PM
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