Posted by Larry Bullis on October 31, 2001 at 18:12:35:In Reply to: Carew Tower posted by Jake Mecklenborg on October 29, 1999 at 00:48:05:
One of my friends was involved in managing the energy use of the Carew Tower a few years ago. His office was on almost the highest floor.
The top floor, the one below the observation deck, has no office space; it is occupied by a water tank. According to my friend, the sole purpose of the water tank was to operate the truck elevator in the basement.
As originally built, the tower had men's restrooms on every floor but women's restrooms only every five floors because there were few women working in offices in 1929.
Vehicles entering the basement loading dock descend a long straight ramp to the center of the building. At the bottom of the ramp is the elevator that lowers the vehicles about 20 more feet to the basement. In front of the elevator is a turntable (not working in 1997) big enough to turn a truck around. This is because there is not enough room to turn around otherwise. The loading dock area in the basement can accommodate surprisingly few vehicles for such a large building and seems to be little used. There is parking for maybe 10 cars total. Originally the primary use of the loading dock was to send and receive linens from the hotel to a commercial laundry. There are several freight elevators for the hotel that serve the loading dock, but it appears that linens are no longer processed this way. I was in the basement for about an hour on a weekday in May, 1997, and during that time there were no vehicles that entered or left the basement.
At first one might assume that the highest offices commanded the highest rent. Not so. The fact that people had to transfer to the tiny elevator to reach the upper floors made them less than desirable. Furniture had to be disassembled and reassembled to move it in. The office spaces themselves are very tiny and feel confining by comparison to more modern offices. The view, of course, is spectacular, but the windows also seem tiny. My friend was practically given the top floor because it was just not rentable.
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