Way Up High

No, NOT a weed reference – this time.  Recently I saw two things which piqued my interest in this topic.  The first is watching the Netflix show “Marseille”, and observing one particular building dominating the French city’s skyline atop the tallest hill in the city, the Notre Dame de la Garde.  The other was seeing a photo of spectators watching the Yankees vs. Pirates World series game in Pittsburgh from the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh.

Some of these, like the examples just given, are not particularly tall in and of themselves, but rise up high simply by virtue of being on the tallest part of the city, i.e. a large hill.  For the genuine skyscrapers I’ve listed heights.

George Washington Masonic National Memorial (Alexandria, Virginia).  The Heights of Buildings Act in 1899 restricted the heights of Washington, DC buildings, after the Cairo Hotel freaked everyone out.   Technically the tallest structure in the city is the Washington Monument.  The law was prompted by the Cairo Hotel and doesn’t have anything to do with the Washington Monument, which I don’t really consider a building.   Mind you, Baltimore has its own Washington Monument, but theirs is much smaller.

Rosslyn, Virginia, across Key Bridge from DC, has a fairly decent array of skyscrapers, though the tallest of these is still only 381 ft and nowhere close to what they have in NYC or Chicago.  Mainly you see them from Georgetown.

My own condo building, Skyline Plaza, at Bailey’s Crossroads, is 26 stories and about 333 feet tall.  Across George Mason Drive is One Skyline Tower, a building of similar height which stands higher due to having a base 50 feet higher.  The latter is a government office building with no observation deck nor access granted to ordinary people.  My building, and the South building next door, have impressive observation decks, and the view from my own 20 floor balcony is also pretty nice.  On the other hand, in periods of immense fog you literally just see a solid wall of white, which is weird but cool.

The George Washington Masonic National Memorial (Alexandria, Virginia) sits on top of a huge hill.  There’s a free tour which sends you up each level and tells you all about how Washington was a Mason.  Both the tour and the view are worth checking out.

Arlington County Circuit Court, in Arlington, Virginia.  12 stories, with a fairly decent view from the top of the surrounding area.  Though for most non-lawyers, a trip to the courthouse is probably going to be an unpleasant experience.

Empire State Building and World Trade Center, New York City, NY.  I’ve been to the ESB a few times, and both the original World Trade Center (Twin Towers) and the new single tower version, its impressive observation deck – much better than the previous one.  The ESB, at 1250 feet, was the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion in 1931,  surpassed in 1973 by the WTC at 1368 ft. itself replaced by the Sears Tower in 1975.  The new WTC is 1776 feet tall.

Willis (formerly Sears) Tower, Chicago, Illinois (1450 ft).   I haven’t been to Chicago.  In “The Blues Brothers”, the pursuing Nazis accidentally drive off an unfinished overpass and somehow drop down past the Sears Tower on their way to  street level. 

Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Apparenlty not all that tall in itself, but up high above the city.  IF I’m ever in Pittsburgh I’ll see about visiting it.

That’s it for America the Great.  How about around the world?

Eiffel Tower (1063 ft), Sacre Coeur, Tour Montparnasse, and Tour First (Paris, France).  Of these four, I’ve only been to the first two.  Of course the Eiffel Tower is famous, and was the tallest building at the time of its construction for the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris.  It was originally intended to be taken down in early 1900s, but fortunately they changed their minds and let it stay up.   I visited in April 1979 and more recently in October 2017.  Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) stands up on the highest part of the city, Montmartre, the scene of where the Paris Commune broke out in March 1871.  The view is actually pretty nice.   Tour Montparnasse is relatively recent (1973), and although the Left Bank building does have an observation deck, I haven’t been there yet.  Finally there's Tour First at La Defense.  The Eiffel Tower is still the tallest building in France.

Notre Dame de la Garde.   On top of the tallest hill in Marseille, the second largest city in France and right on the Mediterranean.  I haven’t been to Marseille yet, though we drove by it on our trip to the south of France in summer 1979.

Burj Khalifa (2717 ft), in Dubai, UAE.   This building is now the tallest building in the world since its completion in 2008.   It was designed by the same firm that did the Sears Tower and the current WTC.  If anyone knows what the view is like, let me know – I haven’t been there.

Cristo Renentor (Christ Redeemer), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Corcovado, the huge hill upon which Jesus spreads out his arms over the city of Rio, is already well above the rest of the city and had an observation platform before the statue was erected in the 1930s, a gift from the French.   No statues for London or Berlin, sorry.  Although you can’t go up inside Jesus, the area around it gives a nice view of the city, accessible by cable car or a long and winding drive.  Enjoy.