September 1968 - Union Bank Building, L.A.'s First Modern Skyscraper Completed

In September 1968, the 40-story Union Bank Building opened as Los Angeles' first modern skyscraper, the first part of downtown L.A.'s growing skyline.

The 515-foot tall building, designed by the local architecture firm Albert C. Martin and Associates was the first building to surpass the height of the 454-foot-tall City Hall Building (of which Martin was also one of the architects), built 40 years prior, giving rise to subsequent high-rise developments in downtown L.A. that created the skyline we see today.

In 1903, Los Angeles enacted a 13-story height restriction on all buildings, exempted only by the 28-story City Hall that lasted until 1956, when city voters modified the height law by making the restrictions adhere to a floor area ratio that instead limited it to no more than 13 times the size of the lot.

The Union Bank Building was also the first new structure built in the controversial Bunker Hill Redevelopment plan which razed a dilapidated, though once tony, neighborhood of historic buildings and replaced it with modern highrise developments.

The building was renovated in 1994 and is now the 20th tallest building in Los Angeles.