ARCO Tower
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Conoco-Phillips Building
1981–1983, Luckman Partnership of Los Angeles with Harold Wirum & Associates. 700 G St.
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(Photograph by Ian Hartman) -
(Photograph by Ian Hartman)
The ConocoPhillips Building is among the most familiar sites in downtown Anchorage. At 22 stories and 296 feet high, the building is not only Anchorage's tallest but also the state's. Construction began in 1981 and was completed by 1983 at a cost of $63 million. It originally opened as the ARCO Tower to host Alaska management operations for the Atlantic Richfield Company, an oil exploration and drilling company, before being sold off to Phillips Petroleum. The latter eventually merged with Conoco Inc. to form the present-day multinational oil and gas corporation, ConocoPhillips, based in Houston, Texas. The Luckman Partnership of Los Angeles worked closely with Anchorage firm Harold Wirum & Associates to build the steel-framed structure trimmed with tinted glass. The building demonstrates the commitment that the oil and gas industry made to Alaska following the discovery of the North Slope oil patch and the completion of the eight-hundred-mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline to transport it.
The ConocoPhillips Building is adjacent to the Robert B. Atwood Building, the second tallest in Anchorage and the state. The two buildings dominate the Anchorage skyline and largely define the downtown core. But unlike the Atwood Building, which is used by a variety of public state agencies, the ConocoPhillips Building is the headquarters of the oil and gas corporation’s Alaska regional headquarters. However, the building also hosts offices for other companies, including New York Life Insurance, the Netherlands-based KPMG tax and advisory service agency, in addition to local businesses offices. There is also a small Alaska Club gym accessed through the south-facing side of the building.
The main entrance is a two-story public atrium at street level that houses a food court, information desk, and fountain at the center rear. Once in the atrium, security clearance is required to access the smaller, mid-rise office tower on the west side of the facility and the primary 22-story, high-rise office building located to the east and dedicated to ConocoPhillips’s Alaska operations. In 2013, the building sold for $104 million to Cook Inlet Region Inc. and Anchorage-based JL Properties Inc. Still, ConocoPhillips remains the largest presence in the building, as well as one of the state’s largest private-sector employers. Fitting for the largest oil exploration corporation in Alaska.
References
Elwood Brehmer, "ConocoPhillips building sells for $104 million," Alaska Journal of Commerce, December 16, 2013.
Bob Reiss, The Eskimo and the Oil Man: The Battle at the Top of the World For America's Future (New York: Hachette Book Group, 2012).
A brief history of ConocoPhillips in Alaska is available at: http://alaska.conocophillips.com/who-we-are/our-history/.
Writing Credits
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