![[Terminal Tower, Cleveland]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84096/preview)
[Terminal Tower, Cleveland]
Artist
Margaret Bourke-White
(American, 1904–1971)
Date1928 (negative); ca. 1965 (print)
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 1/2 × 9 1/2 inches (34.3 × 24.1 cm);
Mat: 18 × 14 inches (45.7 × 35.6 cm)
Mat: 18 × 14 inches (45.7 × 35.6 cm)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineGift of the artist, Class of 1927, and LIFE Magazine
Terms
- Photographs
- Gelatin silver prints
- Ohio
- Towers
- Urban views
- Wrought iron
Object number65.573
Label CopyWhen Terminal Tower in Cleveland was dedicated in June 1930, it became the fourth tallest building in the world. Originally planned to rise fourteen stories, it eventually reached a height of fifty-two floors. Its developers, the Van Sweringen brothers, hired Bourke-White in late 1927 as exclusive photographer of their commercial interests. Brimming with self-confidence, Bourke-White asked to rent a studio at the very top of the tower, a request that was refused since it was higher than even the brothers’ offices. She compromised and took a studio on the twelfth floor instead. In 1930, she closed her Cleveland studio, trading it for one on the sixty-first floor of New York City’s newly completed Chrysler Building. ("Margaret Bourke-White: From Cornell Student to Visionary Photojournalist," curated by Stephanie Wiles and presented at the Johnson Museum January 24 - June 7, 2015)
Collections
![[Terminal Tower Building, beyond railroad trestle, Cleveland]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84069/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1928 (negative); ca. 1965 (print)
![[Terminal Barber Shop, Muncie, Indiana]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84080/thumbnail)
![[Otis Steel Mill, Cleveland]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84063/thumbnail)
![[Smoke stacks, Otis Steel Co., Cleveland, Ohio]](/internal/media/dispatcher/112086/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1927–28 (negative); ca. 1965 (print)
![[A preacher and his parishioners, Cleveland Public Square]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84002/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1928 (negative); 1965 (print)
![[Hungary: Rooftop view of the Towers of Parliament in Budapest]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93153/thumbnail)
![[Central tower of Festetics castle, Keszthely, Hungary]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93393/thumbnail)
![[McGraw Tower, Cornell University]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84026/thumbnail)
![[View of Cayuga Lake from McGraw Tower, Cornell University]](/internal/media/dispatcher/84030/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
ca. 1926 (negative), ca. 1965 (print)
![[Boardman Hall, Jennie McGraw Tower, and Uris Library]](/internal/media/dispatcher/85276/thumbnail)
![[The Library Tower, from the walk in front of Sage Chapel, Cornell University]](/internal/media/dispatcher/85288/thumbnail)
Margaret Bourke-White
1926-27