One Summit Square 1980 - 2008

1980

One Summit Square, 442 feet tall, is Indiana's tallest reinforced concrete building. It was designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates and completed in 1982. The initial proposal and renderings showed a gleaming tower cladded with mirrored tiles, but construction delays put the owner in a bind to meet occupancy dates in time to keep the mortgage rate locked in. Or at least that was the reason given to the public. The mirrored tiles went by the wayside. When initially completed its surfaces were raw concrete. Because of leakage problems the concrete was sealed with a gray stucco-like material in the 1990s.

One Summit Square was erected on the site formerly occupied by Wolf & Dessauer, a locally-owned department store that stood on the northeast corner at Washington & Calhoun Streets. The old 5-story W&D building was where I first experienced revolving doors and probably escalators. I can't remember for sure if that building had escalators.

The lighted Santa that graces the north wall of the National City Building and the wreath that overlooks the plaza on the north side of One Summit Square originally were displayed on the W&D building, and crowds used to gather on the sidewalks to marvel at the animated window displays.

Windy Morning

People who haven't experienced the sudden straight-line winds that sometimes hit Fort Wayne have no comprehension of how destructive they can be.

This crane was being used to hoist concrete during construction of One Summit Square. As July arrived, I commented to the facilities engineering manager at work that I was surprised the contractor didn't anchor the crane when it wasn't being used, by running a line out from the boom and hooking it onto a dump truck full of stone parked a block or so to the west. His response was that those cranes are so heavy, and their booms so porous, that it "wouldn't be possible for wind to upset one. They could stand through a hurricane with no problem."

About two days after that conversation, I awoke in the morning to wind that was causing my house to vibrate. I couldn't see out the bedroom windows because of the intensity of the rain and the leaves that were plastered against the window screens. I reached over and turned on my scanner to see if I should head for the basement or just get under the bed right away. The first thing I heard was the voice of a policeman talking to the dispatcher. It went something like, "It's swaying pretty bad. Oh! There it goes!" That was followed immediately by a clattering crash. The wind episode probably didn't last five minutes.

Back at work, I thought better of mentioning the event, and the facilities engineering manager didn't bring it up.

After a boom has been damaged like this one, it can never be repaired and made safe. The only thing to do with it is cut it up. Even that is extremely dangerous work, because it's hard to tell what's under stress and which way it might fly, or what might collapse or shift when a cut is made.

Both tower cranes stood fast through the wind.

Old Glory in tatters, shredded by the wind. That should give some idea what kind of velocity was involved.

A view looking south from the 26th floor of the National City Building showing the construction of One Summit Square. The cleared block in the center of the photo is where the Hilton Hotel and Grand Wayne Center stand now.

Looking across the site of the Hilton Hotel and Grand Wayne Center, 1981