Torre Latinoamericana - The Tower That Held

Photo: Alexey Komarov, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Mexico City: Centro Historico Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Crane your neck at the glass and steel tower on the corner. When it opened in 1956, the Torre Latinoamericana rose 44 floors and about 182 meters to the tip of its antenna. Building that tall on lakebed clay, in a city that shakes, was a bold bet.

The engineers, brothers Leonardo and Adolfo Zeevaert, studied the soil first, then sank deep piles and built a steel frame designed to flex. The bet was tested within a year, when a powerful 1957 earthquake rattled the city and the tower came through. In 1985 a far deadlier quake brought down many buildings in the center, and the tower stood firm again, earning it a lasting place in engineering history.

The ground here has deep roots too. Before the conquest Moctezuma II kept a famous collection of animals on this site; afterward came a vast Franciscan convent, whose church still stands down the block. The observation deck at the top charges admission and looks out over the whole route you just walked.

Getting here: The tower stands just across the street, at the corner of Madero and Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas.

Did you know?: The observation deck is on the 44th floor, and on rare clear days you can pick out the snowy volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl to the southeast.

Photo op: Stand at the corner of Madero and Eje Central and shoot straight up for a dramatic angle on the tower.

More on Wikipedia: Torre Latinoamericana · 1985 Mexico City earthquake · Moctezuma II

Torre Latinoamericana - The Tower That Held

Stops on this tour