The U.S. Bank Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Downtown Los Angeles, California and the tallest west of the Mississippi. Standing at 310m (1,018ft) high, it is also one of the tallest in the world. Until the construction of Taipei 101, it was also the tallest structure in an actively seismic region, so its structural design was made to resist an earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter Scale. It consists of 73 stories above ground and 2 stories below ground. Construction was begun in 1987 and was completed in 1990. It is located at 633 West Fifth Street and cost $350 million to build. It was designed by the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners.

It was formerly known as Library Tower due to its proximity to the Los Angeles Central Library and because the Central Library built it as part of the Library's $1 billion redevelopment plan after a fire damaged a significant portion of the Library. It was also known for a time as First Interstate World Center after being bought by First Interstate Bank. The name Library Tower was restored after Interstate merged with Wells Fargo, until March 2003, when it was bought by U.S. Bancorp and renamed U.S. Bank Tower.

The tower has a large glass "crown" at its top that is illuminated at night. The crown is lighted with red and blue on the 4th of July and red and green during the winter holidays. On February 28, 2003, two 75-foot "U.S. Bank" signs were installed on the crown.

In the movie Independence Day it was the first thing destroyed by the aliens.

On June 16, 2004, the 9-11 Commission reported that the original plan for the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks called for the hijacking of ten planes, one of which was to be crashed into the Library Tower, now the U.S. Bank Tower.

See also

• 50 Tallest buildings in the U.S.
• List of skyscrapers

External links

• Skyscraper.com's site on this building (http://www.skyscrapers.com/re/en/wm/bu/116498)
• Outline of the 9-11 Plot (Staff Statement No. 16, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks) (http://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/staff_statement_16.pdf)