Weird Island

20. ABANDONED: It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane.. It’s the Superman Building!

Episode Summary

Did Providence’s now-abandoned Superman Building inspire the Daily Planet in the Superman Comics?

Episode Notes

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Episode Transcription

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look, up in the sky… it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s… the Superman Building!
In the heart of Providence, towers a majestic, Art Deco skyscraper right off the page of a comic strip. And at it’s very peak, hidden from the view of unsuspecting citizens, stands a lone figure - scanning the city streets with super-powered eyesight. Possessing remarkable physical abilities, speed, vision and flight, he fights a never ending battle against his sworn enemies--and the city below is full of them. At his back, a lantern glows green, casting an eerie and unusual shadow as he steps to the ledge and looks down, as though about to leap. No one below can see him, but from his perch on the tallest building in the state, he can see everyone and everything in the endless reaches of the city. He scans the sidewalks, ever vigilant, searching for his enemy.
No, it’s not Superman up there. It.. okay, it actually was just a bird. But throughout the years, many have imagined that perhaps Superman did spend his days in Providence’s Industrial National Bank building--which happens to look a lot like the Daily Planet - that major metropolitan newspaper that employed Superman’s alter ego, Clark Kent. Could it possibly be that the Providence building inspired the creators of Superman, as local legends claim? You’re listening to Weird Island. Each week, I’ll be telling you about the strangest stories I can dig up from my tiny, little state of Rhode Island. And today, I’ll be taking you on a journey into one of the city’s most iconic empty buildings--its history, its design, and its rumored ties to the Superman comics. But, don’t forget about our other hero up there on the roof of the building, even though he’s just a bird, because I’ll come back to him in a minute and tell you his story, too.
It’s almost impossible to imagine superhero comics without also picturing the cities they’re set within. I mean, what would Spiderman even do without the buildings he swings between? The cities take on a personality of their own, playing a leading part in the comics--whether it’s Superman’s massive, affluent Metropolis or Batman’s dark and moody Gotham City or Marvel’s take on real life New York. Cities are huge, full of people, they provide an impressive backdrop for superhuman feats--and they have the crime our heroes were born to fight.
But right now, I’m guessing the comic book city you’re picturing isn’t Providence. It’s probably New York, because that’s where comics really had their start, and it’s where many stories are set.
Both comic book skylines, and the New York skyline, feature a distinct Art Deco look - a style that flourished in NYC in the 1920s and 1930s, as the city was rapidly transformed by a growing population, flush economic times, cheap credit and zoning which encouraged a building boom. The style was influenced both by decorative arts and New York City zoning restrictions intended to prevent tall buildings from choking out light and air at street level. These zoning restrictions resulted in the iconic Art Deco stepbacks on tall skyscrapers - which made buildings look like wedding cakes, with distinct tiers, each set back from the one below. You can see this style on the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. And it appears in many comic books because this was the style that defined architecture at the time when comic books got their start.
Providence doesn’t exactly have the city skyline of New York. Our tallest building is a quarter of the height of New York’s tallest. But, there is one thing about our tallest building that places it in the comic skyline--and that’s its Art Deco style.
The Superman Building, also known as the Industrial Trust or Industrial National Bank Building--was commissioned in 1925 by the Industrial Trust Company--a bank started in Providence in 1886 by Samuel P. Colt. The building was designed by prominent New York architectural firm Walker & Gillette alongside Providence architect George Frederic Hall, and construction began in 1927, during the inter-war boom period when Art Deco was at its peak. It opened with fanfare in October of 1928, a few years before New York’s Chrysler Building and Empire State building were built.
The building itself was a triumph of architecture. It was designed with the stepped-back style, with six wings stemming from a central tower. At the time, it was the third tallest building in New England, and to this day, it is the tallest building in Rhode Island. It features a steel-frame structure sheathed in Indiana limestone--the same limestone used to build the Empire State Building and the Pentagon. And the base of the building is Deer Isle granite. Just a short while later, the Great Depression would put an end to skyscrapers covered in limestone, marble, and granite - in favor of buildings built of aluminum, steel and glass.
Beyond its impressive aesthetics, the Industrial Trust Building featured advanced technology and thinking, including the most advanced Otis elevators that existed at the time. A Providence Magazine article from 1928 boasts that the elevators were almost completely automatic, so much so that “the operator of the car is concerned only in the throwing of the switch and the pressing of various buttons.” It’s funny today to consider that an elevator that required an operator would be considered automatic, but it was actually very advanced in a lot of ways. The elevators could move an impressive 800 feet per minute, and for context this is probably faster than the elevator in your office or apartment complex today, which likely moves about 100-200 feet per minute.
It was also the first bank in Rhode Island where you could use any window to do your banking. Prior to that, bank teller windows were set up according to the alphabet--so you went to a specific window where they could easily pull up your account. But the new approach required a more advanced system of technology and connectivity so any teller could find your account--especially since there were 40 different teller windows. To meet this need, the building included 32 switchboards and 673 telephones, resulting in 1000 miles of telephone wires running through the building.
So everything about the impressive structure expressed confidence, wealth and hope for the city of Providence and the future of the country. It was an age of optimism. In 1928, the existence of DNA was proven, the world’s first color TV transmission was demonstrated, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to travel on a transatlantic flight, and it was the tail end of the dynamic Roaring ‘20s. This atmosphere of optimism encouraged the transformation of cities and provided the perfect setting for one of the world’s most iconic superheroes to make his way onto the scene.
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who met in Cleveland in 1930, two years after the Industrial Trust Building opened its doors. Two shy teens with a shared love of science fiction pulp magazines, they began collaborating on comic book projects--with Siegel writing and Shuster illustrating, and early on in their partnership, they developed a character they called Superman. Initially, Superman appeared as a villain--but they eventually made the decision to turn him into the archetypal fictional superhero instead. And throughout the 1930s, they attempted to sell their original superhero to publishers. But they were unsuccessful. That was, until 1938, when DC Comics agreed to publish Superman’s stories in their new comic book, Action Comics. To DC’s surprise, Superman was an instant hit.
First there were the comics. Then the character’s adventures were adapted into a radio drama which premiered in 1940 and ran for 11 years. And in 1941, Superman made his first appearance on the big screen when Paramount released a series of Superman theatrical animated shorts. And in 1952, Superman got his own live action show--the Adventures of Superman--with George Reeves starring as our hero. Of course, there have been so many more adaptations of Superman, into other comics, other continuities, movies, shows, you name it. But it’s in these early appearances of the character where we see his iconic city of Metropolis really start to take shape. And we get our first looks at the Daily Planet building, where Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent works as a reporter. This big, art deco skyscraper looks a whole lot like Providence’s Industrial Trust Building--So this brings us to our big question. Did the Providence Superman Building inspire the look of the building in the comics?
Well, there are actually quite a few buildings rumored to be the inspiration for the Daily Planet. Many believe the building was inspired by the Ohio Bell Building (now the AT&T Huron Road Building) in downtown Cleveland, which would make a lot of sense since the creators lived in Cleveland when they met and the building has a pretty similar look to the Daily Planet. On this one, though, Shuster has made statements denying that any building in Cleveland inspired his designs.
Others point to New York City as having a strong impact on the Metropolis city skyline. It’s possible Metropolis itself is imagined in New York City. So that’s pretty compelling. In addition to that, when you look back at the early iterations of the Daily Planet building in the original Action Comics, it doesn’t actually look very impressive. When Superman made his debut, the newspaper building was kind of a plain, boxy structure, and it had a star on top, not a globe. But, things evolved as the comic turned into the radio show and then the Animated Shorts, and we actually see the Daily Planet in all of its Art Deco glory, adorned with a globe on top, for the first time in 1942, when it appeared in the 4th episode of the Superman Theatrical short cartoons, created by Paramount and Fleischer studios, both based in New York City. This has led many to believe the building’s iconic look was inspired by Paramount’s former headquarters, an art deco beauty located at 1501 Broadway in New York City--which is also adorned with a globe. Only after this animated short was released, did the building topped with a globe make its way into the comic books.
But there’s another theory, and something else you need to know. When the building was first drawn in 1938, it had a star on top because the newspaper was named the Daily Star. As the story continued, things changed, and in 1940, the newspaper changed names from the Daily Star to the Daily Planet--likely due to name conflicts with real newspapers. In fact, the Daily Star was named after a real newspaper--the Toronto Daily Star, where artist Joe Shuster worked as a paperboy in his childhood before his family relocated from Toronto to Cleveland. Shuster has admitted that the Toronto Daily Star had an influence. In the last interview Shuster ever gave, he told the paper, which had been renamed The Toronto Star: “I still remember drawing one of the earliest panels that showed the newspaper building. We needed a name, and I spontaneously remembered The Toronto Star. So that’s the way I lettered it. I decided to do it that way on the spur of the moment, because The Star was such a great influence on my life.” So many point to this building in Toronto as the influence, but to me, that sounds like the Toronto paper inspired the name, after Shuster had already drawn the structure itself. And, in addition, the Toronto Daily Star’s art deco headquarters was actually built after Shuster moved from the city. So, it’s probably not this one either.
Then there are two Los Angeles buildings that make their way into the conversation, and these two are a little more straight forward, because they “played the building” if you will, in the 1950s live action TV series. First, there’s the E. Clem Wilson Building in Los Angeles, which starred as the Daily Planet in the first season of the series. And then Los Angeles City Hall, which replaced it in season 2.
When it comes to the Providence Superman Building, well, unfortunately it doesn’t typically get considered as a real possibility. Likely, it was just a rumor based on the look of the building. And we’re not the only state with a building like that! If you were to go around the country, you’d find a number of cities with Art Deco buildings rumored to have inspired the one in Superman. At the end of the day, it’s still a mystery, but there’s something kind of cool about the fact that people can be so inspired by a building that they picture superheroes among us.
Whether or not the building inspired Superman creators, it’s certainly an inspiration to Providence, even if we don’t really know what to do with that inspiration. Many people in the city don’t know this, but the beautiful, iconic building has actually been abandoned since 2013. After the Superman Building was built by the Industrial Trust Company back in 1928, the challenge immediately became how to rent the rest of the enormous building. The bank itself went through a number of name changes and acquisitions, leading up to 1998 when it was acquired by Bank of America. And the building was purchased by High Rock Development, a Massachusetts development company, in 2008 for $33M. But in 2012, Bank of America, the only tenant in the building, decided not to renew its lease - and the building has been vacant since they moved out in 2013. In 2016, it was estimated it would take $115MM to rehabilitate the building.
And sadly, it’s estimated the cost to renovate the building just doesn’t equal the revenue you could get from leasing it. Today, if you were to look closely, you’d see that the limestone facade is cracking, and when water gets behind the limestone and freezes, it can cause chunks to fall right off. In 2019, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named it one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.
But there are a few things about this building that are just too cool, and it would be such a shame to see nothing done with it. Of course, it was a bank, so if you were to go into the vault in the basement, the walls of the vault are lined with hundreds of safe deposit boxes. There’s the green-hued lantern on the top, that you can see glowing once again throughout the city. But, to me, the coolest secret feature of the building is hidden up at the very top. The building technically has 26 floors, but if you were to go up to the presidents room, via the private elevator, and go out the back to the fire stairwell, you can go up another two flights. Where you’ll find a door that looks like the porthole of a ship. And out there, on the roof, is a private dining car, referred to as the “Gondola Room.” To me, it looks like of like a diner set on top of the building. The dining car was a gift from architectural firm Walker and Gillette to the president of the bank after the building was designed, and it was essentially a private clubhouse on the roof that the executives could use after work. The interior was leather-lined, and it included a bar where the bankers could privately drink during Prohibition. There is an urban legend that the room was designed to resemble the interior of a dirigible airship, perhaps His Majesty’s Airship Number 1.
Today, the Gondola room is vacant and deteriorated. And overall, the Superman Building doesn’t have much going on. There aren’t any promising proposals for use, though Rhode Islanders continue to demand that something, anything, be done to save the building.
At one point, former mayor Joe Paolino was quoted saying, "The only living thing in that building is pigeons." But, he’s not exactly right. Because the building is sometimes accessed, by the Audubon society of Rhode Island, to monitor a real life superhero - the one from the beginning of the episode, that I promised we’d return to. Our superhero assumes the disguise not of Clark Kent, not of Superman, not of a pigeon, but of the Peregrine Falcon. Each year, the Superman Building is visited by a pair of the birds, who are known to nest on cliff ledges and, sometimes, skyscrapers. The Audubon society maintains a nesting box, which was placed on top of the building in 2000, and each year a pair of the birds returns to nest and lay eggs, and they’re monitored by live cameras, so anyone can tune in to see what the birds are up to.
Peregrine falcons have some superhero-like qualities. Of course, they have one of the most popular super powers--speed. In travel, they can average 25-35 miles per hour, and in pursuit of prey, they can come closer to 70 MPH. But it’s when they go in for the attack, diving towards their prey, that they hit superhero speeds of nearly 200 MPH, making them not only the fastest bird but the fastest animal on the planet when diving. On top of that, their eyesight is incredible. Thought to be 8 times better than human eyesight, they can spot prey from at least a mile away. And because they’re able to move so quickly, their brain has evolved to process visual information faster, so it’s like they can see in hyper speed, and their vision provides a much more detailed image than what we would see. And then, they can take out their prey by delivering a knockout punch with a talon clenched like a fist, allowing them to hunt larger animals.
Today, these are the only tenants of the Superman Building. And they might not be the superhero we imagined, but they’re pretty incredible in their own right. Whether or not the Superman Building had any role in inspiring the creators of the Superman comics, I think there’s something incredible about the way a building’s architectural style can inspire imagination and make you look at the world differently. People look up at the Superman Building and they feel like they’re in a comic book, surrounded by heroes and villains and adventures. It inspired me to see the birds that live in the building differently, and it makes you realize how incredible real life can actually be.
I can’t wait to see the city find a use for the Superman Building one day--I’d love to go inside, and check it out, and I’m optimistic that one of these days, Providence will find a way to keep the building alive. Thank you so much for listening. And a big thank you to Ken for suggesting this week’s episode. If you liked this episode, share it with your friends and family! Or you can leave a rating or review. And if there’s a topic you’d like to hear about, let me know! You can email me or send me a recorded voice memo at weird rhode island @ gmail.com. See you next week as we dig up more stories about all things weird and wonderful in the little state of Rhode Island. Until next time!