Kodak Tower is a 19-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

in the High Falls District of

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, and is part of the

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Headquarters complex. It has a roof height of and stands with its antenna spire included. It was Rochester, New York's tallest building for over 50 years from its completion in

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

until the Xerox Square Tower surpassed it in the late 1960s. Today, it is the 4th tallest building in Rochester, NY and is the 9th tallest building in New York State outside NYC. The Kodak Tower has long been recognized as a landmark in the Rochester Skyline, and an icon in the world of film photography. The building has also been called the "nerve center of photography". The

Eastman Kodak Company The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpo ...

owns the skyscraper, and it remains the company's headquarters. In 2008, Kodak undertook work to repair and restore the exterior of the building.

History

The Kodak Tower was constructed on the site of a former factory next to several seven story Camera Works buildings that clustered around the site. Construction began in 1912 and was completed in 1914 with Kodak founder

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman ...

presiding over the project. Upon its completion in 1914, the tower held the title of the tallest building in Rochester, New York until the 1960s.

Design & Construction

Kodak Tower was designed by

Howard Wright Cutler Howard Wright Cutler (1883–1948) was an American architect known primarily for his designs of churches, schools and public buildings in Washington, D.C. and adjacent Montgomery County, Maryland. Early life and education Cutler was born in Our ...

and

Gordon & Kaelber Gordon & Kaelber was an architectural firm of Rochester, New York, extant from 1918 to 1932. The partners included Edwin S. Gordon, who died in 1932,''Architectural Forum'' 1932: 52. and William G. Kaelber. The firm was preceded by Gordon & Madden ...

Architects with a French Renaissance style. When construction began in 1912, the building was designed as a 16-story high-rise with a steel skeleton faced with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

. The building overtook the

Powers Building Powers Building is a historic office building located in Rochester in Monroe County, New York. It was built in 1869 and is a nine-story, building, laid out around a large open stairwell in the center. It features a triple mansard roof and obser ...

to become the tallest building in the city upon its completion in 1914.

Spire Addition

In the late 1920s, the architects of the Genesee Valley Trust building announced plans to mount an architectural feature that would threaten the Kodak Tower's status as the city's tallest building. Following the announcement Eastman Kodak hired an architect to construct 3 more floors on the building with a mansard roof and aluminum tower bringing the tower to a height of feet in 1935.

Peregrine Falcon Webcam

In 1994 Dennis Money, the founder of the Rochester Peregrine Falcon Project, got permission from Kodak to install a nest box on the spire of the Kodak Office Tower. The nest box was installed as part of an effort to reintroduce peregrine falcons to eastern North America after the species was listed on the U.S. Endangered Species list. In 1998 a pair of peregrine falcons known to the public as Mariah & Cabot-Sirocco began nesting in the nest box. The reintroduction effort became popular over the web after Brad Carney, an IT Consultant at

, coordinated an effort to install web cams around the nest and made the web cam imagery available online for the public to view. The web cam quickly became a popular attraction on the Kodak website. Mariah hatched 43 falcon chicks at the top of the Kodak Tower until the nest box was relocated to the

Times Square Building The Times Square Building, formerly the Times Building, is a registered landmark building in Seattle, Washington. It was completed in 1916 and housed editorial operations of the '' Seattle Times'' newspaper, which was housed there until 1930. Lo ...

in 2008 when

announced plans to do extensive restoration work on the Tower.

Architecture

Kodak Tower is tall to its roof and reaches a full height of tall. The building has 19 floors of commercial office space occupied exclusively by the

. Atop the building is an 18th and 19th floor balcony with a steep gothic steeple and a lightning rod with the initials EK for Eastman Kodak at the very top of the building.

Signage & Lights

A block letter sign that spells out the company name KODAK is displayed at the roof level of the north and the south sides of the tower. Throughout the night the sign is lit up with red neon lights. In addition to the sign, the tower's 18th and 19th balcony facade is lighted during special occasions such as sporting events and holidays.

Restoration

On June 13, 2008,

announced that it would repair and restore the tower's exterior. The building needed urgent repairs due to deterioration in the masonry in many locations on the tower which threatened the building's safety and integrity. The restoration was completed in 2010.Restoration work begins at Kodak Tower
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Address

The building's official address is 343 State Street, Rochester, New York 14650.

Gallery

File:Kodak Tower Commercial Street (adjusted).jpg, Kodak Tower from Commercial Street File:Kodak Tower Upper Floors.JPG, Kodak Tower Balcony & Spire File:Kodak Tower and High Falls.JPG, Kodak Tower from High Falls File:Kodak Tower Top.jpg, The top of the Kodak Tower, August 2008 File:Kodak Tower From Frontier Field Winter.JPG, Kodak Tower from

Frontier Field Innovative Field (originally known as Frontier Field) is a baseball stadium located at One Morrie Silver Way in downtown Rochester, New York. It has been the home of the Rochester Red Wings of the International League since 1997. The park opened ...

during an outdoor hockey game. File:Kodak Tower From Sahlen Stadium.JPG, Kodak Tower from

Rochester Community Sports Complex Stadium Rochester Community Sports Complex Stadium, also called the "downtown soccer stadium", is a soccer-specific stadium in Rochester, New York within the Rochester Community Sports Complex. It is home to the Flower City Union of the National Indepen ...

File:Kodak Tower from Broad Street Bridge.JPG, Kodak Tower from Broad Street File:Rochester Skyline 2012.JPG,

Rochester, NY Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in Wes ...

Skyline With Kodak Tower in the Background File:Kodak Tower Exterior.JPG, Exterior Facade of Kodak Tower File:Kodak Tower at Night.JPG, Kodak Tower Lighting at Night File:Kodak Tower From High Falls Gorge.JPG, Kodak Tower From High Falls With Pont De Rennes bridge File:Kodak Tower at Noon.JPG, Kodak Tower From South File:Kodak Tower From Frontier Field Summer.JPG, Kodak Tower From

During a summer baseball game.

References

External links

Kodak Website

Emporis.com:Kodak Tower

{{City of Rochester, NY Kodak Skyscraper office buildings in Rochester, New York Commercial buildings completed in 1914 1914 establishments in New York (state)