555 California Street

555 California Street, formerly known as the Bank of America Center, is a very tall building with 52 stories and a height of 779 feet (237 meters). It is located in San Francisco, California and is the fourth tallest building in the city. When it was finished in 1969, it was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until another famous building, the Transamerica Pyramid, was completed in 1972.

For many years, this building served as the main office of Bank of America. However, in 1998, when Bank of America joined with another company called NationsBank, the company's main office moved to a different building called the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Today, the building is owned by two companies: Vornado Realty Trust and The Trump Organization. It remains an important and well-known part of San Francisco's skyline.

Background

555 California Street, often called "Triple Five" or "Triple Nickel," was built to show the success and importance of Bank of America. Famous architects designed it, and it has special features like many bay windows and a large plaza named after the bank's founder, A.P. Giannini. There is also a big black granite sculpture called "Transcendence" in the plaza.

The building was once the tallest in the world west of the Mississippi River until another tall building was built nearby. It has a restaurant on the 52nd floor, though it closed many years ago. Today, the building is owned by different companies and is still one of the tallest in the United States.

Major tenants

The building has many important companies that use space there. Some of these companies are AllianceBernstein, Bank of America, Bank of India, and Qatar Investment Authority.

In popular culture

Since it opened in 1969, people have talked about strange things happening in the building, like cold spots moving around and phones picking up calls by themselves.

The building appeared in several movies and games. It was shown in the beginning of the film Dirty Harry, where a character stands on the roof. It also appeared in The Towering Inferno, where scenes were filmed in the lobby and outside steps. The building was featured in the video game SimCity 4 and in movies like Godzilla (2014 film) and San Andreas.

In 2019, Lego made a model of the building as part of a special set with other famous San Francisco landmarks. The model had 565 pieces and was available until the end of 2021.