U.S. Bank Tower

U.S. Bank Tower (formerly Library Tower and First Interstate Bank World Center) is a 310.3 m (1,018 ft) skyscraper at 633 West Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles, California. It is the tallest building in California, the tenth-tallest in the United States, the tallest west of the Mississippi River, and as of November 2010, the 55th tallest building in the world (Today ranked 62nd after Georgia's Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta). Because local building codes require all high-rise buildings to have a helipad, It was known as the tallest building in the world with a roof-top heliport from its completion in 1989 to 2004 when Taipei 101 opened. It is also the second tallest building in a major active seismic region; its structure was designed to resist an earthquake of 8.3 on the Richter scale. It consists of 73 stories above ground and two parking levels below ground. Construction began in 1987 with completion in 1989. The building was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and cost $350 million to build. It is one of the most recognizable buildings in Los Angeles, often used in establishing shots for the city in films and television programs. The building made a notable appearance in Independence Day, in which it is the first structure destroyed during an alien invasion.