Statue of Liberty vs Two Prudential Plaza

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The Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World; French: La Liberté éclairant le monde) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor within New York , in the United States.

The copper statue, a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and its metal frame was built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886. The statue is a figure of Libertas, a robed Roman freedom goddess. She holds a torch above her head with her right hand, and in her left hand carries a tabula ansata inscribed JULY IV MDCCLXXVI (July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals), the date of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A broken shackle and chain lie at her feet as she walks ahead, commemorating the recent national abolition of slavery. Following its dedication, the statue became an icon of liberty and of the United States, seen as a symbol of welcome to immigrants coming by sea. Bartholdi was motivated by a French law professor and politician, Édouard René de Laboulaye, that is said to have commented in 1865 that any monument raised to U.S. independence would correctly be a joint project of the French and U.S. peoples. The Franco-Prussian War delayed progress until 1875, when Laboulaye proposed that the French fund the statue and the U.S. provide the website and build the pedestal.



Bartholdi finished the mind and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions. The torch-bearing arm was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and in Madison Square Park in Manhattan from 1876 to 1882. Fundraising proved difficult, especially for the Americans, and by 1885 work on the base was jeopardized by insufficient funds. Publisher Joseph Pulitzer, of the New York World, started a drive for donations to complete the project and attracted more than 120,000 contributors, most of whom gave less than a buck. The statue was built in France, sent overseas in crates, and assembled on the finished pedestal on what was then called Bedloe's Island. The statue's conclusion was marked by New York's first ticker-tape parade and a dedication ceremony presided over by President Grover Cleveland. The statue has been administered by the United States Lighthouse Board until 1901 and then by the Department of War; since 1933 it has been preserved by the National Park Service as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, and is a major tourist attraction. The monument was temporarily closed from March 16, 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic until partially reopening on July 20, 2020. Public access to the balcony around the torch was barred since 1916.

Source: Wikipedia

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Two Prudential Plaza is a 64-story skyscraper located in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, United States.

At 995 ft (303 m) tall, it's now the sixth-tallest building in Chicago and the seventeenth-tallest in the U.S., being only five feet from 1,000 ft, making it the closest of any building under 1,000. Built in 1990, the building was designed by the firm Loebl Schlossman & Hackl, with Stephen T. Wright as the principal in charge of design. It has been honored with 8 awards, including winning the Best Structure Award from the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois in 1995. At the time of completion, Two Prudential was the world's tallest reinforced concrete building. Its distinctive shape features stacked chevron setbacks on the north and south sides, a pyramidal peak rotated 45°, and an 80-foot (24 m) spire. The building is attached to One Prudential Plaza (formerly called the Prudential Building). With no spire, the building's height is still slightly greater than that of One Prudential Plaza's pinnacle.In May 2006, BentleyForbes, a Los Angeles-based property investment firm, run by Frederick Wehba and his family bought Two Prudential Plaza, along with its sister property, One Prudential Plaza for $470 million.In 2015, BentleyForbes defaulted on the mortgage for the towers on account of the terrific Recession and New York-based investors 601W Firms and Berkley Properties took control of the property after investing more than $100 million in equity to recapitalize. BentleyForbes, the former controlling owner of the towers, continues to have an interest in the owning partnership.The building is also the new home of the Chicago Tribune and tronc, Inc. after leaving Tribune Tower in July 2018.

Source: Wikipedia