Over the years we have replicated buildings from all over the world, and in no particular order. Many times this leaves us with a few buildings from a major city, but an incomplete miniature skyline. Looking back on the replicas we’ve done, I found that Atlanta needed to be better represented in the souvenir-building department. After the new additions, there are currently 8 of the top 10 tallest skyscrapers represented in pewter. Each model is scaled in 1 inch = 150 feet.

• Bank of America Plaza
  This is currently the tallest building in Atlanta standing at 1,023 feet tall with 55 floors. BOA Plaza was completed in 1992 in postmodern architectural style and is also the tallest skyscraper in the southern US.

• One Peachtree Center
  One Peachtree or SunTrust Plaza is the second tallest building in Atlanta and stands 871 feet tall with 60 floors.

• One Atlantic Center
  Third tallest skyscraper in Atlanta but was once the tallest from 1987 to 1992. One Atlantic or IBM Tower stands 820 feet with 50 floors.

• 191 Peachtree Tower
  This tower is the fourth tallest in Atlanta standing 770 feet with 50 floors. Johnson/Burgee Architects designed 191 Peachtree as well as One Atlantic Center.

• Westin Peachtree Plaza
  The Westin was Atlanta’s tallest from 1976 until the completion of One Atlantic Center in 1987. This Plaza is currently the fifth tallest coming in at 723 feet with 73 floors.

• Georgia Pacific Tower
  Georgia-Pacific is the sixth tallest building but was the second tallest from 1982 until 1987. This tower stands at 697 feet tall with 52 floors.

• Promenade II
  Standing at 691 feet tall, the Promenade II is the seventh tallest skyscraper in Atlanta. Two other buildings in similar design to Promenade II were proposed to be built at the same time but never were.

• 1180 Peachtree
  Rounding out the top ten tallest skyscrapers in Atlanta is 1180 Peachtree. This unique tower stands 657 feet tall with 41 floors and was completed in 2006.

Atop the cliffs of foggy Ocean Beach sits the Cliff House, a structure that has been there in one form or another for nearly 150 years. The Cliff House changed in its form drastically in 1896 (two years after the original burned down) from being a small modest structure to an 8-story Victorian palace. The Victorian Cliff House, or sometimes referred to as “the Gingerbread Palace”, only stood on the precipice of Ocean Beach until 1907 when it too burned to the ground.

The story of the Cliff House began in 1863 when John Buckley and C.C. Butler built the first house. This building was home to a restaurant with majestic views including the Seal Rocks where large populations of sea lions would gather. In 1868 two wings were added to the Cliff House making it three times its original size. The allure of this unique structure brought in presidents and famous entrepreneurs as well as some insalubrious characters. The negative aspects of the Cliff House guest bothered one man in particular, Adolph Sutro. Sutro in turn bought the Cliff House and surrounding lands in 1881. Adolph Sutro saw his Cliff House burn to the ground the same year he became mayor in 1894.

The following year Sutro moved forward with plans for a new Cliff House, one that would bring even more attention to the San Francisco attraction. Architects Lemme & Colley designed an 8 floor Victorian style House that in comparison to its predecessor was utterly massive. The house was finished and opened in 1896 as well as Sutro Baths, 7 large indoor pools that could be seen from the Cliff House. Adolph Sutro had established the area as a San Francisco landmark and did so even more by opening his home and gardens to the public at Sutro Heights, which overlooked the Cliff House and surrounding areas. 

This new Cliff House featured an observation tower, 20 private lunchrooms, a large dinning hall, an art gallery, shopping areas, bar and panoramic views from its parlors. Sutro also created his own streetcar and railroad that made it very easy for the people of San Francisco to visit this magic setting. Adolph Sutro died in 1898; only two years after the Cliff House had opened. An earthquake in 1906 inflicted only minor damage to the house and it was to be remodeled, but instead it burned to the ground a year later.

The Cliff House would be revived once more in 1909 where this time it was built in a neoclassical design. This house is still perched on the cliff today as a restaurant and famous San Franciscan landmark. It has recently been renovated and reconstructed to preserve its 1909 design. 

Over a span of 150 years the Cliff House has been burned, rebuilt, remodeled, renovated and reconstructed, but over all that time the most unique house was the Victorian Cliff House, and hopefully we were able to do it justice with our replication. The Cliff House replica model features the Victorian Cliff House perched on the cliff of Ocean Beach where it overlooks Seal Rock in the Pacific Ocean. This model stands 3-3/4” tall with a base measuring 5” by 2-1/2”.

Check out Gary’s great Cliff House Project web site.

Cincinnati Union Terminal is a structure that can be defined as a survivor. Through the years the Union Terminal has had many ups and downs, especially the downs, which would have seen a similar structure in any other city demolished. The city of Cincinnati has stuck with the art deco classic and through their perseverance the Union Terminal still stands a Cincinnati landmark.

In the early part of the 20th century, a Union Terminal was proposed but then delayed due to many factors including World War I. The architects for the building were Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner along with Paul Philippe Cret and Roland Wank who brought along the idea of an art deco design. Construction started in 1929 and was completed in 1933. Union Terminal found success early on, especially with transferring soldiers during World War II, but business declined in the 1950’s with airlines and interstates expanding around the country.

Over the years Cincinnati Union Terminal gradually lost passengers and in the early 1970’s there were only around two passenger trains passing through until 1972 when the train service was terminated. At this point things looked bleak for Union Terminal, but the city came through and bought it in 1975. In 1980, a developer converted the terminal into a shopping mall, but the recession at the time caused it to fail and once again it seemed all hope was lost. Later in 1980, the Cincinnati Historical Society and the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History proposed the Union Terminal be used as a joint location for a museum. Voters approved and a budget was set as well as thousands of individual contributions from the people of Cincinnati. After renovations and restorations the Cincinnati Union Terminal was transformed into the Cincinnati Museum Center. Soon after this the passenger service returned from Amtrak.

The story of Cincinnati Union Terminal would have been cut short if the city itself had given up on one of its most unique landmarks. Now, Union Terminal isn’t just a fine example of art deco architecture, but an essential piece to Cincinnati’s storied history. The Union Terminal was another “must miniaturize” on our list and therefore we made two models. The Union Terminal (large) measures 3-7/8 inches by 4-3/4 inches and stands a little over 1-5/8 inches tall. The Union Terminal (small) measures 1-13/16 inches by 2-7/16 inches and stands a little over 1-7/16 inches tall and only features the rotunda of the station.

Located in the financial district of Canada’s largest city stand two famous landmarks, the Scotia Plaza and Canada Trust Tower. Neither of these skyscrapers are Toronto’s tallest, but they may be the most unique and recognizable (excluding the 1,815-foot CN Tower). If you don’t consider the CN Tower to be a skyscraper then Scotia Plaza and Canada Trust rank currently as the 2nd and 3rd tallest skyscrapers respectively in Toronto, Ontario.

The postmodern Scotia Plaza stands at 902’ tall with 68 floors. This tower is distinguishable by it dark red granite façade and its vertical setbacks. Scotia Plaza was built by WZMH Architects in 1988 and is located at 40 King Street West. The plaza was constructed of reinforced concrete rather than steel with a glass curtain and the tower also features an atrium at the ground floor.

Quite possibly Toronto’s most distinctive skyscraper is the Canada Trust Tower, an 863’ tall tower located at BCE Place. BCE Place or Brookfield Place is a complex that also includes the Bay Wellington Tower and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Canada Trust was completed in 1990 and designed by Bregman + Hamann Architects and Skidmore Owings And Merrill. This 53-story tower is covered in a light gray granite façade and features many setbacks leading to a spire that result in its unique design.

Both of these landmarks were replicated in the 1 inch = 150 foot scale series. The Scotia Plaza stands 6-3/8 inches tall while the Canada Trust stands just less than 6-3/16 inches tall.

After the sun has set and night creeps into a city, many of the skyscrapers and tall towers can be recognized by their window lights, illuminated signs or flashing beacons, but there is one structure in Barcelona that can be virtually invisible one moment and the next a fireworks display of the color spectrum radiating through the entire city.

This structure is in fact a skyscraper that that rises 474 feet into the sky and is known as the Torre Agbar or Agbar Tower. The Torre Agbar is a somewhat elliptical shaped building consisting of 33 floors and a large domed top. The Agbar Tower was designed by Jean Nouvel and completed in 2004 in Barcelona, Spain. The inspiration for this skyscraper came from a geyser rising into the air and also from the Montserrat Mountains near Barcelona.

The Torre Agbar was constructed with a concrete core and an outer concrete wall with 4,500 window openings and a façade made of glass and aluminum with blue, green and gray panels as well as red window panels mostly scattered towards the bottom of the tower. The glass façade is the most defining characteristic of the Torre Agbar. Each of the window openings is covered by an LED luminous device that can generate 16 million different colors and many different images. An example of just how cool this building looks can be found here. The Torre Agbar has become a symbol of New Years Eve around the world and a very nice addition to the beautiful city of Barcelona.

The Agbar Tower is one of my favorite skyscrapers and so we created a scale building replica of it.  We previously released a building very similar to this one called 30 St. Mary Axe in London and really didn’t expect to replicate another building of this shape until I saw a video of it in action. The awesome display of colors and images sold me right away and even in the daylight the building is very unique with its bluish skin accented with red colors that climb from its base.

Our replica of the Torre Agbar was done in 100 feet = 1 inch scale and the 150 feet = 1 inch scale. The 100-foot scale model is 5-1/8 inches tall and the 150-foot model is 3-1/2 inches tall. The Torre Agbar is truly a remarkable structure and a one of a kind landmark.

The southeast corner of Madison and Clark Streets in Chicago, Illinois once bordered a classic structure that was considered “World’s Tallest Hotel”. This hotel was the Morrison, a 526-foot brick red colored building with 45 floors and 2,500 rooms. The Morrison Hotel was designed by architects Holabird & Roche, the same designers responsible for the Chicago Temple and the original Soldier Field.

The Morrison didn’t start out as a massive high-rise hotel in the Loop of Chicago, but rather as a 4-story structure in the late 1800’s. The Morrison Hotel quickly expanded to 8-stories as business picked up in the area. The Hotel’s expansion became a common theme as the property was bought and the original hotel was demolished to make way for the first phase of the development of a much larger building. The first section was built in 1913 with a total of 519 rooms with each one containing its own bathroom, a feature not very common during this era. Two more areas of expansion occurred in 1916 and 1925, but the most significant addition was the tower in 1927. Morrison Hotel’s tower raised the building to skyscraper status and was the first building outside of New York City to  have over 40 floors.

This beaux-arts beauty didn’t stand very long due to more hotels being built around the area in the 50’s and 60’s making the Morrison a gradually failing business. The end came in 1965 when the Morrison was demolished to make way for the Chase Tower. The demolition was the tallest wrecking job ever at that time and the Morrison Hotel was the tallest building demolished outside of New York City.

The Morrison Hotel grew from a small 4-story building into an enormous structure, but it was planned to be even larger. The original tower faced Clark Street and there were plans to add an additional tower to the Madison Street side that would have expanded the hotel by 400 more rooms. The stock market crash and following Depression buried these plans, but would have made for a pretty interesting skyscraper.

The Morrison may not be the most recognizable or remembered skyscraper, but it does deserve its spot in history. In remembrance of this classic we created replicas in the 1 inch = 150 feet and the 1 inch = 100 feet scales. The 150-foot scale replica stands a little over 3-7/8 inches tall while the 100-foot scale replica stands a little over 5-5/8 inches tall.

  “The Showplace of the Nation” was once one of the most sought after vacation spots in the country and a hub for showcasing entertainment. The actual name of this fabled area is the Steel Pier. The Steel Pier opened on June 18th, 1898 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but there had been previous piers residing in that spot that had either burned down or fallen apart. This early amusement park stretched over 1,600 feet long and featured a casino, a dance pavilion with a band shell, an aquarium, and a sun parlor with a fishing deck.

You may wonder how such an attraction would be found in Atlantic City and the answer lies with a man named Dr. Jonathan Pitney. Dr. Pitney was a landowner who believed that there could be a seaside resort fit for any class of people and that it would be easily accessible. The Camden & Atlantic Railroad was built to bring in people from Philadelphia and the name Atlantic City was conceived by Pitney’s civil engineer, Richard Osborne. Atlantic City was becoming a tourist attraction as well as a permanent home to many and later railroad travel would expand to all the surrounding major cities.  Early on there weren’t any boardwalks and many hotels in the area were complaining of sand being brought into their lobbies. The solution was to build temporary walkways made of wooden boards placed on pillars that could be moved with the tides. Eventually, the boardwalk caught on and vendors started setting up on them and they themselves became an attraction. This also led to building piers out from the boardwalk into the ocean for more added seaside attractions.

The Steel Pier’s flair and outrageous attractions stemmed from George Hamid. Mr. Hamid once worked in Buffalo Bill’s Circus and joined with the pier’s owners in 1925 to present outdoor circus entertainment at the pier. Hamid was responsible for the famous High Diving Horse, Alvin “shipwreck” Kelly, the Human Cannonball and the High Diving Hawaiians. Other outdoor attractions included the Diving Bell and Rex the Surfing Wonder Dog. The Steel Pier was also a hotspot for concert, film and theatre and included such acts as Abbott & Costello, W.C. Fields, George Jessel, Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee, Amos & Andy, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Hardeen (brother of Houdini), Guy Lombardo, Benny Goodman, Jimmy Dorsey, Mae West, Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones and many more. Also, the Miss America Pageant was crowned at the pier from 1935 through 1938.

The Pier was considered “A Vacation in Itself” and it really became a highly desirable location during the 1930’s when you could pay one admission price and enjoy everything the pier had to offer without ever spending another penny. Over the years the pier had changed considerably in appearance with more signs and billboards replacing the original exterior. The Steel Pier saw a decline in tourism once air travel became more affordable but the pier still thrived for a while. A fire in 1969 caused the  pier to lose much of its length and then it eventually closed in 1976. In 1982 a fire destroyed the pier and its steel foundation bringing about an end to the original steel pier. The Pier was rebuilt in 1993 by Donald Trump as a concrete structure with many rides and attractions and even featured the Diving Horses for a short time. Currently the pier is in plans to be redeveloped as retail and entertainment attractions as well as condominiums.

In honor of such an important landmark to Atlantic City as well as the country, we created a replica that hopefully captures the nostalgia of Steel Pier in its heyday. This massive model stretches 11-½ inches long and almost 3 inches wide for the large version and the small version is exactly half this size (5-3/4” X 1-1/2”). The Steel Pier replica building features many signs and billboards and also the pool area where the diving horse performed.  

This past Thursday morning my wife Carol and I arose earlier than normal (5:00 AM). We jumped into the car and hurried to beat the Philly rush hour traffic as we were bound for South Jersey. Shortly after arriving at our good friends (Al and Chris) home we joined them for the completion of our morning drive.

Our destination, the Queen Mary 2! This was not a sightseeing trip or even a cruise across the North Atlantic. This was a once in a lifetime screening of a premier documentary film. It was to be shown in the Illuminations Planetarium on board the finest of the modern day luxury liners.

The Life and Times of Bill Miller, is a one-hour documentary about the quintessential authority on Ocean Liners past and present. He has authored over 70 books and is working on 12 more right now!
Bill is one of the most dynamic, interesting, amusing and energetic speakers I have ever known. We became friends not because of his interest in the great ships but because of one of his other passions, replica buildings. Bill is a long time customer of mine and an avid lover of depression era New York skyscrapers. His passion for replicas is not in their intrinsic value, or their rarity, but in their art and their ability to bring pleasure. What a refreshing attitude towards a hobby that sometimes is more about conquest and possession.

I highly recommend this video for anyone interested in the Great Ships, classic New York footage, and most importantly how the American Dream has worked for Mr. Bill (Ocean Liner) Miller. Robert Neal Marshall did a masterful job of creating, producing and directing this gem. Peter Ising wrote a wonderful original musical score in a 1930’s style.

Bill, Great Job, I am proud to call you my friend!