100 North Main Street
Winston-Salem, United States
The 856th tallest building in the world
100 North Main Street, also known as Wells Fargo Center, or known colloquially as the "Winston Weiner", "Phallus Palace", or simply "The Penis Building" is a postmodern, 460-foot (140 m), 34-floor office skyscraper in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Originally named Wachovia Center, the building served as the corporate headquarters of Wachovia bank from 1995, the year of the tower's erection, to 2001, the year the corporation merged with First Union and moved its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina. It is the tallest building in the Piedmont Triad region and was the tallest in the Carolinas outside Charlotte until 2008, when RBC Plaza (now PNC Plaza) was completed in Raleigh. The building was designed by Petronas Towers architect César Pelli and features Moravian architectural themes, which are widely found in Winston-Salem. Notable aspects include the Moravian arch, which was used in the dome's design, and the Moravian star, which was used on the lobby's mosaics. Pelli said the tower design resembled a rosebud about to bloom. It is sheathed in Olympia white granite and is the only granite-domed skyscraper in the world. The granite comes from a single quarry in Sardinia. The dome rises 59 ft (18 m) and houses mechanical equipment. The gardens around the site were designed by Pelli's wife Diana Balmori, a landscape architect. Atlanta-based developer Taylor & Mathis managed the development.
The building was erected for Wachovia bank to replace the nearby Wachovia Building (which was renamed Winston Tower) as the corporation's world headquarters. Wachovia Center, as the tower was originally named, surpassed Winston Tower as Winston-Salem's tallest building. The building was erected during a lull in skyscraper construction in the United States and was the tallest building erected in the entire country during the years of 1995 and 1996. The building remained Wachovia's corporate headquarters from its completion date in 1995 to 2001, when Wachovia merged with First Union. Once the merger was finalized, the corporation, which retained the Wachovia name, decided to locate its headquarters at One Wachovia Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wachovia
Building data from Wikidata (CC0); heights normalised. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).