Huntington Tower

Huntington Tower
Huntington Tower is located in Ohio
Huntington Tower
Location within Ohio
General information
Location106 King James Way, Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Coordinates41°04′56″N 81°31′06″W / 41.0823°N 81.5184°W / 41.0823; -81.5184
Completed1931
Height
Antenna spire137 metres (449 ft)[1]
Roof101 m (331 ft)
Technical details
Floor count27
Design and construction
Architect(s)Walker & Weeks[2]
First National Bank Building
ArchitectWalker & Weeks
Architectural styleArt Deco
NRHP reference No.07000633[3]
Added to NRHPJune 27, 2007[3]
References
[2][1]

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 King James Way and East Mill Street.[4] The 330 ft (100 m) tower[1] has been the city's tallest building since its completion in 1931.[2]

The 27-story building is art deco in style and is covered in glazed architectural terra-cotta.[5] Its lobby is built of Tennessee marble, white brick, and terra cotta, and features a large banking hall with arched windows.[2]

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.[6] 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.[6] Erected in 1953 for WAKR-TV's sign-on[7][8] and later donated to PBS member station WEAO, the antenna reached a height of 134.7 metres (442 ft) but was removed in 2019.[1][9]

  1. ^ a b c d "Huntington Tower". SkyscraperPage.
  2. ^ a b c d "Emporis building ID 125771". Emporis. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  4. ^ Warsmith, Stephanie (October 7, 2013). "Akron moving ahead with plans to improve Cascade Plaza". Akron Beacon Journal. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  5. ^ "FirstMerit Restoration". Western Construction Group. Archived from the original on March 11, 2006.
  6. ^ a b Price, Mark J. (March 14, 1999). "Scraping the Sky". Sunday Beacon Magazine. p. 13. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  7. ^ "Bird? Plane? Nope, TV Show 487 Feet in Air". Akron Beacon Journal. Akron, Ohio. June 7, 1953. p. 2. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^
  9. ^ Mackinnon, Jim (July 11, 2019). "Something's missing on downtown skyline". Akron Beacon Journal. Akron, Ohio. pp. B1, B10. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.