RochesterSubway.com : Lincoln Tower… Through 1970, and beyond.

Lincoln Tower… Through 1970, and beyond.

June 5th, 2013

The following is a guest post submitted by Jimmy Combs.
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In 1970 a Lincoln Rochester Trust Co. advertisement in the Daily Record hailed, “Lincoln Tower… a tangible expression of our belief in the growth of Upstate New York… Through 1970 and beyond.”

The Lincoln First Tower, now called Chase Tower was completed in the summer of 1972 at a cost of $20 million. It is 398 feet tall. It contains about 356,000 square feet of office space. It is a big building. Just like the Xerox Tower, Chase Tower has roots in Seattle. John Graham and Company is an architecture firm based in Seattle…

John Graham is also Responsible for the design of the Space needle. It seems that he took some of what he learned about structural engineering from the innovative Space Needle and applied it in his design of Lincoln First Tower.

Lincoln Rochester made its first move towards a new building for its headquarters way back in 1960 by acquiring the old Temple Theatre property. The public got a good idea of their plans in late 1967. The project was called Clinton Square and just about everyone was excited about it. The project included the main central tower and four smaller towers at each of the four corners. Three of them would be office, and one a hotel.

Not everyone was ready to completely forget about the buildings that would be demolished for the project. On December 20th, 1967 an article in the Democrat and Chronicle by Henry Clune was titled “Those were the Days Downtown”. The article is about how the land Clinton Square was built on was once the most exciting part of downtown.

This area was once part of the old 4th Ward Theater District which included the Colonial on Main Street, the Temple , the Victoria and the Lyceum Theater . Clune wrote “It was a place of entertainment at night as well as a lively trading mart during the day.” Among the buildings that were demolished: Dake’s Drug Store at Main and Clinton, and the Whitcomb house .

The Clinton Square project basically demolished what little was left of it.

In the editorial column in the Democrat and Chronicle (December 19, 1967) an unknown person wrote “…the most thrilling private enterprise project in Rochester history, excepting not even famed Midtown Plaza and the Xerox complex.” The problem with this statement is that the tower would likely not have been built if it were not for public investment as well.

Lincoln Rochester asked the city to build a parking garage for about 2,000 cars. Predictably the city agreed, and the price tag for the new garages and all the demolition ended up being about $15.9 million. Mayor Frank T. Lamb said that any new parking facility built “will be esthetically attractive; we want more than just a garage in this area.”

To call the parking garages that were built “esthetically attractive” is certainly debatable. Technically the garages were a part of the Genesee Crossroads South Urban Renewal Project, but really they were built with Clinton Square in mind. According to the D&C a whopping total of 71 businesses would have to relocate when the Genesee Crossroads South Redevelopment was complete.

Demolition was considered for the Alliance building, and it seemed very likely that they would at least alter its façade to give it a modern look. That would have been tragic. They did remove the spire though…

For better or for worse, the city was already rapidly modernizing itself when Clinton Square was proposed. Some people believed that Clinton Square was an essential piece to the puzzle and when completed, Rochester might become a model city. The $5 million, 7 story Seneca Building directly across the street from the Lincoln First Tower was a part of the Clinton Square project. The covered pedestrian bridge connecting the two structures was an original and important part of the development. The idea was that one could walk from Lincoln First Tower to Midtown, Xerox or Sibley’s without ever stepping outside.

Overall Chase Tower is a well done, unique modern skyscraper. It helps make Rochester look like a big city from far away and up close. I’m not sure what would be better to have, Chase Tower or the old buildings that were torn down including the ones demolished for the 2,000 parking spaces. I think it’s a tough call.

In a recent tweet, D&C writer Steve Orr reminded us of a Chase Tower “claim to fame”: in the early 1980’s the bank had to spend almost $20 million to replace the exterior marble tiles that covered its 27-story home office after those tiles started falling off! 203,000 square feet in all. See .

• • •

About Jimmy Combs:

Jimmy Combs is a 20 year old living in Penfield. He is obsessed with the city of Rochester and wants to help Rochester succeed in a major way, and bring it back to its former glory.

Tags: 4th Ward Theater District, Chase Tower, Clinton Avenue, Clinton Square, Colonial Theatre, Daily Record, Genesee Crossroads South Urban Renewal Project, John Graham, John Graham and Company, Lincoln Alliance Building, Lincoln First Tower, Lincoln Rochester Trust Co., Lyceum Theatre, Main Street, Midtown Plaza, Seattle, Sibley's Department Store, Space Needle, Temple Theatre, Victoria Theatre, Xerox Square, Xerox Tower

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 at 8:05 am and is filed under Reader Submitted Stories, Rochester History, Rochester Images, Urban Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

34 Responses to “Lincoln Tower… Through 1970, and beyond.”

mike says:

June 5, 2013 at 8:15 am

interesting article about urban renewal and downtown become car-centric.
Dan Howell says:

June 5, 2013 at 8:58 am

This was great – I had never read about the history of Lincoln/Chase Tower, but have always found the building fascinating from a design perspective. I’m hoping as Midtown is redeveloped (and hopefully Xerox Tower), the concourse under Chase Tower will see growth, as well. We could be entering a new era for this area.
(also, I’m guessing the last photo in this article is supposed to be of the Alliance Building)
RochesterSubway.com says:

June 5, 2013 at 9:10 am

@Dan, we fixed last image. Thanks! It’s a before-and-after of the Alliance Building looking west down Main Street; with and without the spire.
Dan Howell says:

June 5, 2013 at 9:25 am

Thanks! Its always crazy to see the before and afters. I miss the spire!

But hopefully the next “after” shot will bring us closer to a more vibrant streetscape.
Matthew Denker says:

June 5, 2013 at 10:19 am

This is a great tower. Better without the other towers in the original plan. I must say that downtown would be better off without the parking garage. There’s an opportunity for some real intimacy on Stone St behind this were it not for the garage. Something like Stone St. in Manhattan would be amazing.

Only tangentially related to this project – the new park next to the shabby run down park that resulted when the development of townhouses was quashed remains foolish.

Back on topic, I’d love to see the layouts of the available space in the concourse (all of it basically). Imagine if it were rebuilt into a grocery store down town. Nationwide (and on average, of course), there are 8,800 people per grocery store. At an occupancy of 1.5, that’s only 5,900 units. Downtown already has about 2,000. Now where could we put the other 3,900?
Bob Williams says:

June 5, 2013 at 10:23 am

Tough call? This building and its non-functional commercial bunker are a complete disgrace.
Mary says:

June 5, 2013 at 1:23 pm

I took a temp job in an office on an upper floor of this building back in the 90’s. It was beautiful looking out the windows. I never felt comfortable mooching around the rest of the tower, though.
Mittens says:

June 5, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Why does it always seem like our urban projects are downsized before completion? Xerox Tower was originally supposed to have a twin tower. Chase tower with the four other corner towers. Paetec Tower being downsized to a 3 story suburban-style office building. Genesee Crossroads with the planned idea for urban hotels and mixed use shops downsized to one building and a park. I’m sure there are dozens, if not hundreds of more examples. Why do we always fail in Rochester?
Matthew Denker says:

June 6, 2013 at 8:33 am

I don’t think the value engineering of major projects is unique to Rochester. Even rebuilding the world trade center has involved serious cutbacks from the initial plan. It’s just something that happens. It’s also something that we’re just more aware of locally since we see both the original plans and the final built environment, whereas when we visit other places, we only see what was built, and we conjure the plan on our own.

I guess on a more personal level, I don’t ever expect any of the filling in posts I write to happen how I write them. It’s just part of the “game.”
Jason Haremza says:

June 6, 2013 at 2:32 pm

I’m with Bob Williams. To me, it’s not a tough call at all. The demolition of the fine-grained urban development, with active street level facades along Main, Clinton, Stone and South, is a major loss for the city. Especially considering that the replacement is a subterranean bunker on Main Street and actual moats along South Clinton and Stone Streets. This is hardly good, human scaled, urbanism.

I will concede that the building itself is quite striking, especially from a distance. It does contribute to the city’s skyline and I’ve always admired the bold geometric forms of white (Chase Tower), black (Xerox Tower), and red (B&L Tower).

However, I’m surprised the article didn’t mention one of the building’s major design flaws: the marble panels. Originally, the fins were covered with white marble panels. Apparently, by the 1980s, these were cracking and falling the sidewalks below. So they were removed and replaced with painted aluminum panels. These, sadly, have not aged well and now look quite dingy, especially viewed up close.
RochesterSubway.com says:

June 6, 2013 at 3:44 pm

@Jason, the bit about marble is in there. It’s at the very end under “Related”. Very interesting.
Chris Brandt says:

June 6, 2013 at 11:38 pm

The whole marble debacle was supposedly a result of value engineering of the contractor’s fault and not John Graham. The thickness of the pieces of veneer along with the material used for the attachment of the marble to the fins were both altered from the original specs.

Also as an aside, the “spire” you see on the alliance building was a water tower, and the base of the structure for it still exists.
Drew says:

July 8, 2013 at 8:08 pm

My late father worked at the Lincoln Tower (in their Trust Department) for 25 years, from when my parents moved to Rochester in ’72 (20 mos. before I was born) until retirement in ’97. I still remember Christmas parties there when I was five or six.
Douglas Fisher says:

October 11, 2013 at 12:01 am

During construction of the Lincoln First Tower, I met the project’s construction cost estimator, who worked for the building’s contractor. This cost estimator was consulting simultaneously for the University of Rochester.

He bragged to me how much money he was saving the contractor on construction of the Lincoln First Tower, based upon his persuading the contractor to use thinner slabs of marble than the architect’s design had specified.

His commission fee was based on the savings that he established. He was paid while his recommendations looked like savings.

Some savings!!
Rich Rolwing says:

October 19, 2013 at 8:19 pm

I always wondered what that mysterious building with the spire was that I would see in old photos. I could never place it among the succession of buildings to grace that side of Main St.

MYSTERY SOLVED!!: Thank you Subway.com:)

Was the tower removed because it had deteriorated structurally or just to give the building a more so-called “modern” look, I wonder
?
Douglas Fisher says:

October 19, 2013 at 8:45 pm

The fire tower was removed because the president of Lincoln Bank did not like its looks. Lincoln was then building its new marble-finned tower, and the pictured buildings planned for its four corners were intended to be bland and visually subsidiary to the new centerpiece.

My information comes directly from Wilmot Craig, then president of Lincoln Bank, whom I met with at that time to urge that he preserve the fire tower. All of Rochester was then becoming nondescript under its urban “renewal” program then in full swing, and I urged that this interesting bit of distinction should be preserved. The banker disagreed.

As it turned out, none of the buildings projected at the four corners of the new marble-finned building were ever built. The building with this tower pictured, then housing the offices of Lincoln Bank, was intended for ultimate demolition, but instead survives today (without banking offices) under the name Alliance Building, reflecting an ancestor of Lincoln Bank, which once merged with the Alliance Bank to form Lincoln-Alliance Bank, a hyphenated name that can still be seen high on a street wall of the Chase Bank branch at Monroe Avenue & Goodman Street.

As downtown’s office market continues to diminish, plans were announced to convert the Alliance Building to residential use. Plans were then put on hold, allegedly because the proposed developer was surprised that the building contained a great amount of asbestos, more than he claims to have budgeted for its removal.
RochesterSubway.com says:

October 19, 2013 at 9:00 pm

@Douglas, the developer was Patrick Dutton. I’ve spoken with him and he confirmed the asbestos abatement was the deal breaker. It was just more than he could take on.
Douglas Fisher says:

October 19, 2013 at 9:06 pm

A reasonable rationale, although probably a predictable problem. This thoughtful private development adaptive re-use proposal lacked the millions of dollars of New York State largesse that went into asbestos removal at Midtown Plaza, which was the sine qua non for anything happening at Midtown. And, likely, for the long-empty facing buildings across Main Street.
Rich Rolwing says:

October 19, 2013 at 9:59 pm

I thought at first you guys were talking about that project to convert the old National Clothing Building into a hotel as having fallen through–That is still on, right?

Thanks for the exhaustive response to my question about the water tower, Douglas. So he decided to get rid of the tower AFTER it was decided that the other buildings would not be built? So as not to distract from the blandness (IMO) of the Lincoln Tower with even a hint of architectural novelty, as it were?

So there is still something in the Alliance Building, right? Offices, et.al.?
RochesterSubway.com says:

October 19, 2013 at 10:22 pm

Yes, the Hilton Garden Inn project in the old National Clothing building is still on as far as I know.
Rich Rolwing says:

October 19, 2013 at 10:57 pm

Hey Mike–Why so impersonal? You remember me, right?
RochesterSubway.com says:

October 19, 2013 at 11:28 pm

Rich, Ich erinnere mich an Sie.

🙂
Rich Rolwing says:

October 19, 2013 at 11:50 pm

Na,gut! Have you started taking German lessons? (Or are we resorting to automatic translation?) Aber bitte gebrauche die familiare “du” Form mit mir, also: Ich errinere mich an “dich.”
RochesterSubway.com says:

October 20, 2013 at 11:37 am

Ha. Das ist google schuld. 😉

We’re off topic here, so for everyone else’s sake, Rich helped translate a vintage postcard with a message that was written in German. You can see that article here. Thanks again, Rich.
Douglas Fisher says:

October 20, 2013 at 1:20 pm

@Rich: The fire tower was removed after the conceptual drawings were in place for the four corner office buildings, but while all leasing efforts were focussing on filling the new marble-finned tower.

Only subsequently did it appear that there was not an adequate market to justify construction of all four corner buildings. The site of the two contemplated buildings on the south was then sold for construction of the Clinton Square Building, facing Broad Street between Clinton Avenue and Stone Street, but with an all-weather connection to the Lincoln Tower.

The city’s largest law firm, Nixon Hargrave Devans & Doyle (now Nixon Peabody), had been an original anchor tenant of the Lincoln Tower, revenue from whose lease justified the financing of the Lincoln Tower.

Nixon Hargrave, after about a decade of tenancy in the Lincoln Tower, signed up as an original anchor tenant of the new Clinton Square Tower, revenue from whose lease justified the financing of the Clinton Square Tower.

Nixon Peabody remains as a major tenant of the Clinton Square Tower.

The old Alliance Building offers an all-weather connection to the Lincoln Tower (now the Chase Tower), hosts office tenants at a lower base rent than the two newer towers, and, in addition, offers a deli facing Main Street.
Rich Rolwing says:

October 20, 2013 at 5:20 pm

*Interesting–I just checked out the Alliance Building on Google Maps and you can clearly see the octagonal base where the tower stood. The google map view also is a good way to really get an idea of the size of the building. It’s pretty massive.

*The Temple Theater was quite an attractive building. Those b*st**ds couldn’t have left just one of those theaters. Unbelievable.
RochesterSubway.com says:

October 20, 2013 at 5:24 pm

It’s okay, you can say bastards. It was a pretty bastardy thing to do. At least we still have Eastman Theatre.
Douglas Fisher says:

October 20, 2013 at 5:34 pm

Within the space of only one decade — 1965 – 1975 — we lost to demolition the RKO Palace Theatre, the Loew’s Theater, the Paramount Theater, the Regent Theater, the Capitol Theater, and the shuttered Family Theater (previously the Cook’s Opera House).

An expert analysis showed that the Cook’s Opera House at 25 South Avenue, with its excellent acoustics, could have been restored as a 1,000-seat theater for about $2 million.

A far cry from the ~$90 million asserted as the cost of a Broadway-style theater in a downtown performing arts center today.
Rich Rolwing says:

October 20, 2013 at 5:56 pm

*Ok–Baaahhstards!

*Anybody remember the Riviera Theater in the Tenth Ward @Lake Avenue and Ridgeway (A CVS is there now)? I used to walk there from my house on Knickerbocker Ave. to watch a horror movie double bill in the late 60s early 70s.
Rich Rolwing says:

October 20, 2013 at 5:57 pm

Sorry–Lake Avenue and Flower City Park.
Douglas Fisher says:

October 20, 2013 at 6:00 pm

The Riviera Theater was demolished to the glee of sledge-hammer-wielding City Council members, who did not like the type of movies being shown.

Obviously, that was the fault of the building, not of the theater operator. Therefore, the building must be demolished.
Rich Rolwing says:

October 20, 2013 at 8:26 pm

Ok, so mummies and vampires aren’t everybody’s cup of tea–Just kidding! I know at the end they had sunk to what might be called Monroe Theater West. I had forgotten about the political grandstanding accompanying the demolition.
Fred Rischenole says:

April 13, 2017 at 9:54 am

About the marble on Lincoln Tower: The original marble was imported from Italy and was quite porous. It absorbed water and eventually broke off from the brackets that were holding it to the steel. The marble was later replaced by aluminum panels and the remainder of the marble was sold to someone. I, with a crew of 5 others, installed the glass and to the best of my knowledge it’s still in
Joseph Palmeri says:

November 22, 2021 at 3:45 pm

My dad owned “The Hair Stop” beauty salon on the concourse level. He was one of the original establishments in the building. He stayed open there through all the good and bad times throughout the years. He finally closed due to health reasons around mid 2000’s. Mis him greatly. He loved downtown Rochester and through out his life always worked downtown.
Joseph Jr.

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