The BMO Tower is a

highrise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction ...

Midtown Phoenix, Arizona The Central Avenue Corridor is a significant stretch of north–south Central Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. Roughly bounded by Camelback Road to its north, and McDowell Road to its south, this is one of Phoenix's most vital and heavily trafficke ...

, also known as the Viad Corporate Center and formerly the Dial Tower. The tower was constructed in 1991 for the

Dial Corporation Henkel Corporation, doing business as Henkel North American Consumer Goods and formerly The Dial Corporation, is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut. It is a manufacturer of personal care and household cleaning products and is a su ...

, which is why the building resembles a bar of Dial soap. It was previously occupied by Viad, which spun off subsidiary Dial Corporation in 1996 but since 2016, the

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (, ), abbreviated as BMO (pronounced ), is a Canadian multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank, making it Canada ...

(BMO) has occupied one floor of the building. It rises and 24 floors, and is currently the sixth

tallest building This is a list of the tallest buildings. Tall buildings, such as skyscrapers, are intended here as enclosed structures with continuously occupiable floors and a height of at least . Such definition excludes non-building structures, such as tow ...

in Phoenix. It was designed in the

modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

style by

HKS, Inc. HKS, Inc. is an American international architecture firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas (US). History The firm was founded in 1939 by Harwood K. Smith. In 2002, HKS expanded its international presence by opening HKS Arquitectos in Mexi ...

Originally, the tower was supposed to have a twin, rotated 90 degrees from the current tower, but due to the

Savings and Loan Crisis The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s (commonly dubbed the S&L crisis) was the failure of approximately a third of the savings and loan associations (S&Ls or thrifts) in the United States between 1986 and 1995. These thrifts were b ...

of the 1980s and 1990s, the second tower was dropped. Today, the BMO Tower stands as one of Phoenix's most prominent buildings. It is located across the street from the

Phoenix Art Museum The Phoenix Art Museum is the largest art museum, museum for visual art in the southwest United States. Located in Phoenix, Arizona, the museum is . It displays international exhibitions alongside its comprehensive collection of more than 18,0 ...

on Central Avenue just north of McDowell Road between

Downtown Phoenix Downtown Phoenix is the central business district (CBD) of the City of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is in the heart of the Phoenix metropolitan area or Valley of the Sun. Phoenix, being the county seat of Maricopa County, Arizona, ...

and Midtown Phoenix. The building features a large landscaped public park with many statues and fountains near the entrance. Completed in 1991, the BMO Tower was the last major skyscraper to be constructed in Midtown. In early 2016,

BMO Harris Bank BMO Bank, N.A. (colloquially BMO; ) is a U.S. national bank headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is a subsidiary of the Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company Bank of Montreal, which owns it through the holding ...

, N.A. (Canada's Bank of Montreal and Chicago's Harris Bank) moved into the Viad Tower, renamed the building to BMO Tower, and had a BMO logo placed atop the mid-town tower.

Gallery

Image:Viadplaza.jpg, Image:PhxTallest5.jpg, Image:Downtown_Phoenix_Aerial_Looking_Northeast.jpg,

References

Viad Tower on Skyscraperpage.com
* {{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in Phoenix, Arizona Office buildings completed in 1991 1991 establishments in Arizona

Gallery

See also

References