U.S. Bank Tower (formerly Library Tower)

The seismically engineered building is based on a matrix of overlapping and concentric geometries—one circular, the other orthogonal—that define a series of setbacks up to the full height of 1,018 feet. Located across the street from the 1926 library, designed by noted architect Bertram Goodhue, the tower is shaped to create a memorable skyline image while granting primacy to the small landmark building, from which it curves back deferentially to reorient its enormous mass. At ground level, the tower animates the neighborhood with dining, shops, and a vital urban connection: the adjacent Bunker Hill Steps, which afford direct pedestrian access between the previously separated upper and lower parts of downtown.

The tower remains the tallest in California’s high-seismic zone, employing an innovative structural frame that affords both flexibility and stiffness.

The tower makes its presence felt at street level not as a self-centered object but as one of several supporting actors on an urban stage whose unquestioned star is the historic library.