Carew Tower
Carew Tower is a 49-story, Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The second-tallest building in the city, it was Cincinnati's tallest from 1930 until 2011, when it was surpassed by Great American Tower at Queen City Square. The tower is named after Mabley & Carew department store proprietor Joseph T. Carew, who was the namesake of a previous structure on the site.
The Carew Tower was developed by industrialist John J. Emery, who sought to create a mixed-use "city within a city" with an office and retail tower, a hotel, and a parking garage. Planning was assisted by skyscraper pioneer William A. Starrett, whose firm Starrett Brothers, Inc. became the project's contractor. Walter W. Ahlschlager served as the complex's principal architect, with Delano & Aldrich as an associate architect. Announced shortly before the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, work on the project continued despite poor economic conditions. The office and retail tower topped out in July 1930, and the entire complex was complete by early 1931 at a cost of $33 million.
Upon its completion in 1930, the tallest of the complex's three towers housed commercial offices on the majority of floors, a retail arcade on the lower levels, and an observation deck on the top floor. In its later years as a commercial property, the tower was beset by high vacancy rates and financial difficulties. In 2022, the tower was purchased by developer Victrix Investments LLC, which announced plans to convert it into a primarily residential building by late 2029. The complex's hotel opened as the St. Nicholas Plaza in 1931, but has operated under a variation of the name Netherland Plaza for most of its history, becoming the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza in 2002. Previously under common ownership with the rest of the complex, the hotel was excluded from the 2022 sale. The parking garage, which was the shortest tower, closed in 1979 and was subsequently demolished.
Celebrated by local media and public figures within Cincinnati, the Carew Tower is among the city's foremost landmarks. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994, with the National Park Service describing it as "one of the finest examples of skyscraper modernism in America" and "the most complete statement of the 1920s' Jazz Age".
History
Planning and construction
The Carew Tower replaced the 1891 Carew Building, a nine-story structure designed by James W. McLaughlin in the Romanesque style. The Carew Building was named after Joseph T. Carew, founder of the Mabley & Carew department store. The Emery Hotel & Arcade, established by industrialist Thomas Emery in 1877, was located nearby. Thomas Emery's widow, Mary Emery, purchased the Carew Building in May 1925 for $2,000,000. At the time, The Cincinnati Post reported that Mary Emery was considering building a new hotel on the site as a memorial to her deceased husband. The following month, a court permitted the Emerys to place many of their properties under the management of realty firm Thomas Emery's Sons, Inc. By the end of the year, the Andrews Building was the only structure on the eventual site of the Carew Tower to be outside of Emery ownership. On March 22, 1929, Thomas Emery's Sons purchased the Andrews Building for $1,000,000, giving it control of a contiguous plot of land on the southern portion of Fifth Street between Race and Vine Streets. On March 30, tenants in most of the existing buildings on the plot were told to vacate by June 1 ahead of a new construction project. The Emery Hotel closed on June 3 in preparation for the project.This project, which would become the Carew Tower, was conceived by realtor Walter S. Schmidt of the Frederick A. Schmidt Company. John J. Emery, vice president of Thomas Emery's Sons, served as the project's developer. Early plans called for a mixed-use "city within a city", featuring a department store, a theater, office space, and a hotel to rival the Waldorf-Astoria. Schmidt and Emery negotiated a deal with skyscraper pioneer William A. Starrett, who subsequently assumed control of the tower's planning. Starrett's firm Starrett Brothers, Inc. became the project's general contractor. By the mid-summer of 1929, the theater had been removed from the plan, while a retail arcade and an automated parking garage had been added. Starrett Brothers hired Walter W. Ahlschlager as the project's principal architect, while Emery preferred Delano & Aldrich, which had previously built a house for Emery in Indian Hill. Delano & Aldrich was subsequently hired as an associate architect. Ahlschlager's design was heavily influenced by the Crane Tower, an unrealized skyscraper in Chicago that he had previously designed. Many of his proposals did not make it into the final design, which was prepared by Delano & Aldrich and influenced by its earlier Wall and Hanover Building.
The project was announced on August 24, 1929. The first structure on the site to begin demolition was the Emery Hotel, with wrecking efforts starting on August 25. A crew of 700 men demolished the Carew Building over the course of 30 days, with 400 working during the day and 300 working at night. The Carew Building was the tallest structure in the city to have been demolished up to that point. On September 9, the vice president of the wrecking company announced that his employees would begin digging the building's foundation in 10 days. By mid-October, the Marks Building was the last of the 13 structures on the site still standing. The entire demolition project, which was the largest in Cincinnati history at the time, was completed after 51 working days.
Work on the project began shortly before the stock market crash on October 24 that triggered the Great Depression. Emery had sold his stocks weeks beforehand in order to finance the building, which reduced the crash's impact on the project. Construction continued on a modified plan. In November, a Starrett executive denied rumors that the project had been canceled or downsized, instead announcing that the project would be increased in size as a reflection of the Starretts' "belief in the marvelous future that lies ahead of Cincinnati". The first concrete was poured on January 8, 1930. 400 workers helped pour the base of the structure, finishing after 30 hours of continuous work. Underpinning of adjacent structures was completed by January 25, by which time excavation was projected to conclude before February 15. Steel construction was scheduled to begin on February 10. "Carew Tower" was announced as the building's official name on March 1, honoring Joseph T. Carew. Starrett Brothers set a goal to raise the steel framework in under 50 days, with the first steel raised on March 6.
Workers laid steel for the first three floors until March 24, when the International Association of Iron Workers began a sympathy strike in response to Starrett Brothers' use of non-union workers for the construction of the Empire State Building in New York City. 259 iron and steel workers temporarily left the project due to the strike, though workers in other professions continued to operate. In April, Northwestern Mutual took out a $12 million mortgage on the tower, which was the largest mortgage ever taken in Cincinnati at the time. Al Smith, former governor of New York and president of the company developing the Empire State Building, made several unsuccessful attempts to negotiate an end to the strike. The union reached an agreement with the Structural Steel Board of Trade of New York on May 12, ending the strike. By that time, Carew Tower workers who had not gone on strike had "'accomplished about all that was possible'" without further steel work. The strike cost workers nearly $2 million in lost wages. It lasted 49 days and occurred over a period of largely favorable weather for building, but a project official stated that construction would still roughly follow its original schedule.
An initial team of steel setters returned to the project on May 13, with 600 men expected to be at work on the framework by the end of the week. Once construction resumed, workers averaged a floor of steel raised per day. Two women were struck by metal falling from the tower on June 11, prompting the construction of a wooden canopy to protect pedestrians. Work on the 25th floor began on June 19, marking the completion of over half of the steel framework. Stonework on the lower levels was nearly complete by that time, and brickwork had advanced to the ninth floor. A fire broke out on the 22nd floor on June 23, which was extinguished by city firefighters. On June 26, three Soviet representatives from the state-owned Avtostroy toured the building as part of a study of American engineering developments. A fire on the 13th floor was extinguished on June 29. On July 5, the tower became the tallest building in the city after work began on the 44th floor. By July 6, two workers had died from construction-related incidents. Emery's wife raised an American flag over the tower on July 9 to commemorate its topping out. With 15,000 tons of steel raised over 61 days, the speed at which the framework had been completed set a world record.
The Carew Tower was one of several Cincinnati projects affected by a steamfitter walkout on July 24. On July 26, exterior brickwork on the hotel portion of the complex was finished. Brickwork on the tower was completed on August 8. Unions ordered a walkout strike on August 21 after wood trim was shipped to the construction site pre-painted by non-union workers. Later that day, a deal was reached to leave the existing paint intact, but to have future wood painted by union employees. Work resumed on August 22. Brickwork on the garage was completed on September 29.
The tower opened to tenants on October 1, 1930. The hotel followed on January 28, 1931. The garage was operational by the time the hotel opened, though its formal dedication ceremony did not occur until February 14. 17 months passed between the announcement of the project and its completion. The project involved over 2000 workers in total, making it among the largest employers in Cincinnati at the time. The total cost of the complex was $33 million, which was "an enormous sum for that time". Of this, $15 million had gone towards the land, while $15 million was dedicated to construction. At the time, the project was the largest realty deal in American history.