Plaza Tower
- Architect
- Leonard Spangenberg
- Year
- 1969
- City
- New Orleans, LA
Plaza Tower rose to 45 stories and 531 feet between 1964 and 1969, a construction saga that included a two-year halt after developer Sam J. Recile ran out of money before the project was bought out and finished. Designed by Leonard R. Spangenberg Jr. & Associates, it briefly stood as the tallest building in Louisiana until the Hancock Whitney Center overtook it by more than 160 feet four years later, and it remains the third tallest building in the state.
the building
A troubled construction history. Ground broke in 1964 under developer Sam J. Recile, but work stopped in October 1966; new owners bought the unfinished tower and resumed construction in 1968, finally completing it in 1969.
Vacant since 2002. Toxic mold and asbestos forced Plaza Tower out of use in 2002; though the contamination has since been remediated, redevelopment proposals renaming it Crescent City Towers and later Crescent City Residences have both failed, and the tower still stands empty.
the architect
Leonard R. Spangenberg Jr. & Associates designed Plaza Tower, completed in 1969; alongside the World Trade Center on the riverfront, the firm's tower marked the beginning of modern high-rise construction in New Orleans.
significance
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Plaza Tower was the tallest building in New Orleans and Louisiana for four years until the Hancock Whitney Center (then One Shell Square) surpassed it by over 160 feet. It remains the third tallest building in both the city and the state.
nearby
- John Minor Wisdom United States Court of Appeals Building
- Gallier Hall
- Benson Tower
- Confederate Memorial Hall
- Howard Library
- St. Patrick's Church