A love letter to our skyline
Plus: The news of the week — Mountain recovery efforts push forward; Enrollment up at UNC campuses; Bishop accuses Jackson of defamation; Big concert for Western NC relief
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Charlotte: A skyline of ambition and elegance — is it time to protect our crown jewel?
by Mark Washburn
Charlotte’s long reputation of being too big for its britches, too tall for its pants, is indefensible. We’re guilty as sin. This has always been an aspirational city with outsize ambitions that somehow succeed.
One of the busiest airports in the nation. Major league sports franchises. Surging growth rates every decade since the Civil War.
In short, Charlotte is a city that has always looked up to itself. And well it should — its skyline is a thing of marvel.
Count us lucky that the Queen City’s waves of tower construction came during architectural epochs when design and grandeur were in fashion, rather than the boxy ‘70s and brutalist ‘50s. (Photo by Kevin Young/The5and2Project)
There are 10 great skylines among America’s cities. Three are monumental, instantly recognizable for their distinctive iconography: Washington, St. Louis and Seattle.
There’s New York for its inspirational magnitude; Chicago for its broad shoulders scraping the heavens. Miami, my favorite, for its playful architecture that provides a tropical light show nightly. Pittsburgh and Detroit for muscled towers and determined second acts. Boston for its compact texture. And San Francisco for all of the above.
At or near the top of the next tier of 10 we find sparkling Charlotte, which springs from the Piedmont’s dull red clay like the Emerald City commanding the provinces of Oz.
Charlotte is a looker. And, yes, she knows it.
Since two railroad lines crossed here (knocking the price of shipping crops and other goods to competitive depths) in the mid-19th century, Charlotte has been strictly business. Finance founded the city we now know, and frothing bank capital made the sky the limit for its ambitions.
Today, of the 20 tallest buildings in the Carolinas, all but three stand in Charlotte. Bank of America’s headquarters, at 60 stories, lords over them all, a dignified, granite-clad keystone of commerce.
A “Taj McColl” people used to say. Smirk all you like, but it shows how ambition can be measured in stone. You can see it for miles — on a clear day, from a perch 100 miles away atop Grandfather Mountain.
It is a classic tapered skyscraper of the New York school, but its crown, ablaze with fairy lights, commands the city. It spoke first with illuminated heights and the rest of the sleek towers to rise have answered with neon and LEDs, painting the heights like the zing-wake of Tinkerbell’s wand.
Charlotte’s skyline has been popping with new novelties since the 1920s. BofA’s tower opened in 1992, and a decade later came the Hearst building, now Truist Center and the city’s third tallest. An odd but intriguing bit of architecture, it appears to flare at the top, a building with shoulder pads.
Standing diminutively beside the BofA tower, it lends magical dynamism to the skyline, like the queen and king pieces atop the chess board or the characters in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.”
Nearby, with its own whimsical cap, is the city’s No. 2 tower, known casually as the “handlebar building,” but should be properly called “The Orphanage” for the great corporations that coveted its space and naming rights, then decided to abandon. Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Duke Energy are the best-known tenants in exile, leaving the 54-story 12-year-old with the unimaginative label of 550 South Tryon.
Also distinctive by its top is the popularly referenced “Jukebox Building’’ — AKA One Wells Fargo Center — once a banking beehive but now catching its breath as it turns its gaze inward to consider what the uptown office market can make of its 1980s bones.
On a night with a slight mist when both Truist Field and Bank of America Stadium are hosting events, Charlotte’s heights splash with energy. Their glow sends beacons of excitement steam-like into the atmosphere. It connects like an electrical circuit the twin dynamos of the center city — commerce and entertainment, work and play.
We have been fortunate that the girding influence of I-277 has corralled so much beauty and purpose in one place. Unlike the great cities of the top 10 list, Charlotte lacks a proximate body of water to lend reflective power to its skyline. A pity, but unfixable.
We are fortunate that the great waves of upthrust fell into architectural epochs when design and grandeur were in fashion, rather than the boxy ’70s and brutalist ’50s.
But now, as the economy and post-pandemic era are bringing a pause to the cranes hovering above, it is a good time to stop and take inventory of what we have and what makes it pop.
Some cities, New York foremost, are becoming weedy with pencil-thin residential towers that make no statement to the skyline beyond static. And construction technology is rapidly evolving so monstrous eyesores can claim prime territory on the skyline like so many Godzillas.
We need to take this moment and ask whether we’re big enough now for our britches. Is it time that Charlotte imposed a height limit that would preserve the BofA tower’s spot as top dog? It’s nothing new — Paris protects its Eiffel Tower and Washington its namesake monument thusly.
We should think about locking that in. We’re on top of the world, at least the second tier, and it’s a lovely place to be.
Mark Washburn is a retired Charlotte Observer writer and columnist who lives in Davidson. Reach him at mwashburn76@gmail.com.
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This week in Charlotte: Tryon Medical links up with a private equity firm; SouthPark Crate & Barrel on its way out?; Riccio’s restaurant closes after 62 years; Airport parking rewards
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Education
Enrollment increases at UNC campuses: (News & Observer) Nearly 248,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in the 16 University of North Carolina campuses this fall, an increase of 2% compared with a year ago.
Politics
Dan Bishop sues Jeff Jackson over defamation claim: Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop of Charlotte is suing his Democratic opponent for N.C. attorney general, U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte, over allegations that Jackson’s campaign defamed him by suggesting while conducting polling that Bishop represented clients “who stole from the elderly.” Bishop said Jackson was “distorting and mischaracterizing individual cases.” The Jackson campaign said it predicted the suit would be unsuccessful. (Courthouse News Service)
Local news
Deadly shooting near uptown: Police say a man died of a gunshot wound shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of 12th and North Davidson streets near uptown. (WBTV)
Benefit concert announced: Eric Church, Luke Combs, Billy Strings, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow and Keith Urban will be among the performers on Oct. 26 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte for a concert benefiting Western North Carolina. It’s being called “Concert for Carolina.” (Axios Charlotte)
Business
Docs who ditched Atrium partner with private equity: (Ledger) Tryon Medical Partners, Charlotte’s largest independent physician practice, has partnered with private equity firm TPG to secure financial backing for expansion while ensuring doctors retain control over medical decisions.
Crate & Barrel leaving SouthPark? (Biz Journal, subscriber-only) A county building permit says Simon Property Group wants to replace the Crate & Barrel on Sharon Road near SouthPark Mall with a new high-end furniture store called Arhaus. It’s the only Crate & Barrel in the Charlotte area.
Italian restaurant closes after 6 decades: (Observer) Riccio’s Italian Restaurant in south Charlotte has closed after 62 years in business in various locations in the city, owners said on Instagram. It opened in 1962.
From the Ledger family of newsletters
Monday
A journey into mental health: A mother and daughter, both impacted by anxiety, use their experiences to help others through an illustrated memoir and mental health advocacy work.
Plus: A grand birthday for a piece of uptown art; Toppman reviews Charlotte Ballet’s “Beyond the Surface”
Wednesday (🔒)
Airport rolls out loyalty parking rewards program; Judge dismisses racketeering allegations against Aldersgate; New podcast on changes in landscaping industry
Friday (🔒)
Retirement communities help their mountain counterparts: Retirement communities across North Carolina, including The Sharon at SouthPark and Southminster in Charlotte, have mobilized to provide essential supplies and volunteer support to senior facilities impacted by flooding in Western North Carolina.
Plus: The former Harper’s restaurant building comes down in SouthPark; New podcast episode offers support for parents
Mountain Updates
Monday: Returning to a home town in survival mode; Asheville hospital trucking in 200,000 gallons of water daily; Big-name musicians schedule benefit concerts; Harrowing tale of a landslide death; Duke Energy installs mobile substation
Tuesday: The fear of ‘donation fatigue’; Thousands still without power, water; Cherokee tribe loses trout stock; Volunteers conduct nearly 16,000 welfare checks in Buncombe; Nonprofit delivers relief boxes to kids
Wednesday: State lawmakers pass $273M relief bill; About 83,800 N.C. customers still without power; Asheville water restoration still weeks away; Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban join ‘Concert for Carolina’; How Waynesville conducted swift water rescues
Thursday: Mountain counties make back-to-school plans; N.C. deaths rise to 121; State health department warns of tetanus risk; Taylor Swift donates $5M to Feeding America; Glimpse into Burnsville field hospital
Friday: Gas trucks roll onto the scene; 29,000 customers still without power; Mental health concerns arise; False rumors spread on social media; Northern Lights shine over the mountains
Ways of Life (🔒)
Traci Zeller, a successful lawyer, designer and mentor, is remembered for her intelligence, compassion and ability to inspire others, following her unexpected death at 50.
Fútbol Friday
A gentlemanly postgame tradition: Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith has introduced a postgame tradition from British soccer where home and visiting coaches meet for a drink after the match to foster camaraderie, exchange insights and decompress — a practice he hopes will grow in the U.S.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Staff writer: Lindsey Banks; Business manager: Brie Chrisman