Elm Place, Skyscraper and apartment building in Dallas, United States
Elm Place is a 52-story skyscraper in downtown Dallas that rises 191 meters high. The building combines residential apartments with hotel rooms and features the clean lines and functional design of International Style architecture.
Designed by George Dahl and Thomas E. Stanley for First National Bank, the tower was built from 1961 with more than 25,000 tons of steel and opened in 1965. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until 1969 and the tallest in Texas until 1971. After the bank left, it became Elm Place; it closed in 2010 and reopened in 2020 as The National after a $460 million conversion.
The name Elm Place comes from Elm Street, the address the tower faces; the building was renamed after most banking operations left and it became part of Bank of America. Its ground-level arcade of retail space links Elm and Pacific streets, and since 1974 it has connected to the Dallas Pedestrian Network through the adjacent Renaissance Tower.
The tower sits beside DART's Akard Station, and a ground-level arcade lined with retail space links Elm Street and Pacific Street. The lower five floors of the base are recessed 10 feet, leaving walkways around the block. The building joined the Dallas Pedestrian Network when the adjacent Renaissance Tower opened in 1974.
The 50th-floor Observation Terrace once held the world's highest escalator, running up from the 49th floor. The second floor displayed the "Money Tree", a 20-foot-wide mural by Alma Shon made of 8,500 coins and carved wood.
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