Chase Tower, 40-story office skyscraper in downtown Phoenix, United States
Chase Tower is a 40-story skyscraper at 201 North Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix, designed by Welton Becket and Fred M. Guirey and opened in 1972. It fills an entire city block; its footprint resembles a three-leaf clover with a stem, the stem being the narrow concrete elevator core on the southern facade, the tallest part of the tower. The rest of the exterior is a glass panel curtain wall. The west wing rises 34 floors, the north wing 38 and the east wing 36; the highest occupiable floor is the 38th.
Chase Tower was built for Valley National Bank and opened in 1972, designed by Welton Becket and Associates with local architects Guirey, Srnka, Arnold & Sprinkle, and constructed by the Henry C. Beck Company. Its completion began nearly twenty years of renewed downtown Phoenix investment, ended by the 1989 real estate crash. Bank One absorbed Valley National Bank in 1992, merged with Chase in 2005, and the tower was renamed in December 2005.
The tower opened in 1972 as Valley Bank Center for Valley National Bank. It became Bank One Center after the 1992 merger, then took the Chase name in December 2005 when Chase absorbed Bank One. The Chase sign on the roof was removed on November 1, 2021, after staff moved to Tempe.
The tower fills a whole city block at 201 North Central Avenue, but entry is not from the street: access runs through an underground restaurant and retail concourse set back from the surrounding sidewalks. The highest occupiable floor is the 38th, and the former 39th-floor public observation area has been closed.
The building maintained its status for many years as one of the tallest structures across a vast regional area. This position made it a visual landmark in the development of the urban skyline.
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