The Bank of America Plaza is an office skyscraper in Dallas with a height of 280.7 meters. It is one of the first buildings in the world to receive the Energy Star, which is awarded for high energy efficiency. In the dark, multi-colored lighting turns on, which gives the high-rise a special charm.
History of creation
Construction work took place in 1983-1985. Initially, it was planned to open not 1, but 2 skyscrapers: one object would be positioned as the main city center, and the other would be a hotel with 600 rooms and parking. The plans had to be canceled due to falling oil and real estate prices, which was caused by a decrease in economic activity. Thus, one complex was built, but it managed to go down in history as the tallest skyscraper in Dallas.
The initial design was more complex architecturally, and it had to be simplified. There was an idea to build pyramids, to make an external false wall of silver, but with gold stripes. Instead, the exterior walls were decorated in blue with gray marble stripes, and the step pyramid was removed from the plan. Also, in the process of creating the structure, the names changed: The Main Center of Dallas and the Square of the first bank. Since 1986, the high-rise building has been associated with the Square of the First Republican Bank. Two years later, the financial institution was sold to the National Bank of North Carolina, and the building received a new name – NCNB Plaza. The current name of the Bank of America Plaza has been relevant since 1998.
Short description
The Bank of America Plaza building has 74 floors, including 2 technical floors, and 24 elevators are available. The area inside the architectural object is 171,312 square meters, the main tenant is the Bank of America, and a radio and telecommunications center is open on the top 3 floors. Instead of the second skyscraper, which was never built, the Belo Garden Park was opened.
Until 2013, the sculpture "Adventure", created by Alexander Lieberman, stood at the entrance to the Bank of America Plaza. The work of art included 12 steel pipes intertwined with each other, the height of the composition reached almost 12 meters. The art decoration was removed by the new owner of the building and donated to the city. Privileged parking spaces have been opened in the vacant space. This decision is controversial – not everyone agreed with the changes, but some visitors appreciated the additional parking spaces.
The Bank of America Plaza is considered one of the most popular places in Dallas. The 11th season of the TV series "Dallas" was filmed against its background, which made the object more recognizable on a global scale. In the dark, the backlight turns on from multi-colored gas-discharge lamps, which are stretched along the edges and corners of the building. The length of the illumination tubes exceeds 3,000 meters. After a while, the pipes burned down due to the engineers' mistakes, so the lighting did not work. In 1986, a little girl donated $1 to restore the old lighting, as she did not like the gloomy look of the skyscraper. Her example was followed by the townspeople, and together the colorful lighting returned.
How to get
The Bank of America Plaza skyscraper is located in the Main Street area in the city center. Buses No1,2, 749 are suitable. You can also call a taxi or rent a car to travel around Dallas.
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