![]() ![]() Instead, aesthetic and economic concerns weighed more heavily than structural ones, as architectural historian Paul Gleye has argued. But the city first enacted a height limit in December 1904 - a year and a half before the 1906 San Francisco quake reminded everyone of California's geologic instability. Distrust of the high-rise - still a novel architectural form in the twentieth century's first decade - certainly motivated the city to impose the restriction. avoided the skyscraper for so long out of a fear of earthquakes. While New York furiously erected engineering marvels like the Woolworth, Chrysler, and Empire State buildings, Los Angeles imposed a strict 13-story, 150-foot ceiling on new structures for more than 50 years. The cluster of towers rising today from the remains of Bunker Hill belies the fact that, for decades, Los Angeles lacked a modern skyscraper. Bank Tower's title as L.A.'s tallest building looks again to be secure, but the speculation serves as a reminder of the evolving nature of downtown L.A.'s skyline - a story richly documented in Southern California's photographic archives. Bank Tower's reign above the Los Angeles skyline might come to an end, as rumors swirled of an 80-story skyscraper rising from the current site of the Wilshire Grand. Recently, it seemed that the 1,018-foot U.S.
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