The Skylight Office Tower is a 1991-built 12 story 165 foot
high-rise office building on the property of
Tower City Center
Tower City Center is a large mixed-use facility in Downtown Cleveland, Ohio, on its Public Square. The facility is composed of a number of interconnected office buildings, including Terminal Tower, the Avenue shopping mall, Jack Cleveland Casino ...
in
downtown Cleveland
Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out b ...
,
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 ...
. Like its closely resembled (though not perfect matching) sister building (
Chase Financial Plaza
The Chase Financial Plaza is a 1991-built 14 story 165 foot high rise office building on the Tower City Center property of downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The postmodern building was erected in 1991 when Forest City Enterprises sought to improve the ...
) across the under street level concourse in Tower City's The Avenue, Skylight is
postmodern
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
in design and rests on a concrete slab that was left over from an unbuilt office tower in the 1930s that extends underneath the foundations of both the towers. The Skylight contains 321, 0000 square feet of office space and is known for its ornate grand lobby that features imported Italian granite, black marble, and mahogany detailing. The Skylight was constructed by
RTKL
RTKL was a global architecture, planning and design firm. The firm was founded in 1946 by Archibald Rogers and Francis Taliaferro in Rogers’ grandmother’s basement in Annapolis and grew to be one of the largest architectural firms in the wor ...
, just like its sister building and was built at a time when
Forest City Enterprises
Forest City Realty Trust, Inc. was a real estate investment trust that invested in office buildings, shopping centers and apartments in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the greater metropolitan areas of New York ...
of Cleveland sought to increase the floor space and leasing opportunities for their considerable holdings in downtown.
The Hard Rock Cafe
In 1998, the
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and rol ...
Cleveland was opened in the Skylight Office Tower and was one of only two Hard Rock Cafes in Ohio. The Cafe's connection to Tower City Center and the surrounding downtown cityscape made it a magnet for tourists and Clevelanders alike. The Hard Rock, like all Hard Rocks featured Rock & Roll memorabilia and diner style decor. The Hard Rock Cafe at this location closed in July 2016.
See also
*
List of tallest buildings in Cleveland
Cleveland, the second-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio, is home to 142 completed high-rises, 36 of which stand taller than . The tallest building in Cleveland is the 57-story Key Tower, which rises on Public Square. The tower has be ...
*
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and rol ...
References
{{Tower City Center
Skyscraper office buildings in Cleveland
Office buildings completed in 1991
Tower City Center