Union Bank Plaza Tower

The Union Bank Plaza Tower is an International Style skyscraper designed by Albert C. Martin & Associates, in association with Harrison & Abramovitz, and built between 1965 and 1968 in Los Angeles, CA.

Union Bank Plaza Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The Union Bank Plaza Tower is also known, or has been known as, UBC Plaza, Union Bank of California Building, or Bunker Hill Square.

Its precise street address is 445 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA. You can also find it on the map here.

The Union Bank Plaza Tower is a structure of significant importance both for the city of Los Angeles and the United States as a nation. The building embodies the distinctive characteristic features of the time in which it was built and the International Style style. Because of that, the Union Bank Plaza Tower was officially included in the Los Angeles Register of Historic Places on February 26^th 2020.

The tower is surrounded by a landscaped plaza whos ground, like the tower itself, features a grid-patterned pavement scheme aligned with the steel columns of the building. The plaza is divided into different usage zones distinguished visually by various types of trees and vegetation.

The building underwent a major restoration between 2019 and 2021. The architect commissioned to undertake this restoration was HLW.

Albert C. Martin & Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with Harrison & Abramovitz.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Union Bank Plaza Tower a reality:

• Turner Construction as the Main Contractor
• in charge of Facade Consultancy
• Connecticut General Life Insurance Company as the Main Developer
• Jaros Baum & Bolles in charge of MEP Engineering
• Garrett Eckbo in charge of Landscape Architecture

The Union Bank Plaza Tower can be categorized as an International Style building.

The Union Bank Plaza Tower was completed in 1968. By 1968 the International Style movement had already left its early days behind and could be considered a mature movement, which does not mean it was loved and accepted by everyone, on the contrary. The International Style was accepted by the architecture community way before it was by the general public, and it is therefore likely that the Union Bank Plaza Tower was not well received by everyone at the time.

The Union Bank Plaza Tower uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a window wall system, which by itself is non-load-bearing. However, in this case, the facade is technically load-bearing, since there are structural elements that have been integrated into it, adirectly influencing the facade’s design.

Window walls are easier to install than curtain walls, often resulting in reduced construction time and cost. However, the exposed edge of the slabs, and in this case other structura elements too, are weak points in terms of thermal insulation. These areas need to be carefully detailed to prevent thermal bridging and potential condensation issues.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a grid accentuated by the pronounced expression of the steel structure and the texturized concrete spandrels. Both the steel structure and spandrels are painted in white, with the retracted windows featuring a contrasting dark tint.

The tower rises above a two-story rectangular base at street level, with integrated parking and a retail area.