The 4th & Vine Tower (formerly known as the Union Central Tower and Central Trust Bank Building) is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. It stands 31 stories tall, overlooking the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

waterfront. It is easily one of the most recognizable buildings in the city's skyline, owing to the elaborate Hellenic architecture in the upper portion of the tower, which was modeled to resemble reconstructions of the

Mausoleum at Halicarnassus The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus ( grc, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ; tr, Halikarnas Mozolesi) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, an ...

. Few PNC Bank employees now work in the 4th & Vine Tower today, as most report to the newer PNC Center. PNC Bank has the signage rights to the building, but PNC Tower is not the official name. It is officially the 4th & Vine Tower. The signage on the building was "Central Trust" until sometime after the Scripps Building was completed in 1990.

History

The site of the tower was previously occupied by the U.S. Post Office and Customs House and also at a later time by the Chamber of Commerce Building. The 4th & Vine Tower was originally built as the headquarters for The Union Central Life Insurance Company, which moved out in 1964. At least four people died during the construction. When construction of the

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minnesota, Arkansas and We ...

-designed building was completed in 1913, the Union Central Tower was the fifth-tallest building in the world and the 2nd tallest building (tallest office building) outside of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The building opened May 1, with final construction costs of approximately $3 million. It remained the tallest building in Cincinnati until 1930, when construction on the

Carew Tower Carew Tower is a 49-story, Art Deco building completed in 1930 in the heart of downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, overlooking the Ohio River waterfront. The structure is the second-tallest building in the city, and it was added to the register of Natio ...

was completed. The building, along with the nearby skyscraper, the

, was featured in the opening and closing of the daytime drama ''

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American television mystery crime drama series and soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that networ ...

'' from 1967 to 1980. Cincinnati had stood in as the show's locale, Monticello; the company that produced ''Edge'', soap and consumer products maker

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...

, is based in Cincinnati. It was also featured in the opening and closing credits of the TV sitcom ''

WKRP in Cincinnati ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' is an American sitcom television series about the misadventures of the staff of a struggling fictional radio broadcasting, radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio. The show was created by Hugh Wilson (director), Hugh Wilson ...

'', although the show was produced in Hollywood. In March 2021, the structure was announced to be the new home of 250 apartments, office spaces, and a 'city within a city' concept by The Port Authority of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. The construction is reported to begin within six months.

References

{{PNC Financial Services Group Skyscraper office buildings in Cincinnati Office buildings completed in 1913 Bank company headquarters in the United States Cass Gilbert buildings Neoclassical architecture in Ohio 1913 establishments in Ohio

History

See also

References