Crosley
Remembered
Why UC students, alumni still talk about Crosley Tower — and what’s rising in its place
As autumn’s leaves begin to fall, so, too, falls the concrete behemoth Crosley Tower.
Since 1969, the brutalist building punctuated the UC and Greater Cincinnati skyline, home to research facilities, classrooms and a few urban legends.
In April 2024, the UC Board of Trustees approved funding the remediation and demolition of Crosley Tower and adjacent Clifton Court garage. Floor by floor demolition began this past January.
As alumni return to campus for Homecoming, those familiar with the tower will find Crosley has gone the way of Sander Hall and academic quarters — pieces of UC history gone but not forgotten.
Crosley Tower is more than just a relic from the past, eliciting strong feelings from current and recent students, too. The building has inspired research projects, a fan club, a font, even a horror video game. A miniature version of Crosley made of gingerbread by UC co-op students was once featured in The Wall Street Journal.
As the building's footprint is cleared to make way for UC’s new STEM Academic Facility, friends, fans and news media share their stories of the concrete tower.
Crosley Tower has some major lore.
Crosley Tower trivia
Fast facts about UC’s most infamous building:
- Built: 1969
- Named for: Powel Crosley Jr., UC alumnus, radio and auto manufacturer, WLW radio operator and former Cincinnati Reds owner
- Architecture style: Brutalist
- Construction: Second‑largest continuously poured concrete building in the U.S. (after the Hoover Dam)
- Reputation: Famously listed among the “ugliest” college campus buildings in America
- Urban legends: There’s a car — or an ill-fated worker — entombed in the concrete (False); It was accidentally designed without bathrooms (False); The building was sliding or sinking (False); Crosley was haunted (You decide)
- Demolition began: January 2026
- Demolition completion: Expected February 2027
- What’s next: To be replaced by a new 200,000 square-foot STEM Academic Facility, slated to open in 2029
Crosley memories
In your words
We asked UC students, alumni, faculty and staff for Crosley Tower stories. You shared memories and photos of the local landmark.
I spent 28 years on the 16th floor of Crosley Tower as Professor of Biological Sciences. Actually, my lab, office and Departmental Herbarium took up half of the 16th floor. Retired 26 years ago in part due to the threat of tearing down the building.
Although the windows were locked shut, I could always manage to get a window open for air circulation and temperature control. Nice view overlooking Burnet Woods.
Jerry Snider, emeritus faculty, Biological Sciences
Here are my favorite photos I took during undergrad. The first and third were taken from the 8th floor of Scioto.
Penelope Warm (Med, A&S '25)
Photos/Penelope Warm (Med, A&S '25)
Photo/Anna England (CECH '21)
I went to UC from 2017-2021. The first few weeks of living on campus, my friends and I made a point to wander around campus and see how many buildings we could explore. One of those buildings was, of course, Crosley Tower.
We came up with the idea to see if we were allowed to access the roof of the tower and get a good view of campus. The only problem was that we needed to take the stairs to do so. I remember the staircase being particularly dark and stuffy but getting giddy the closer we got to the top. We had to pause a couple of times to catch our breath, but we finally made it to the top of the staircase. However, the very last door that led to the roof was locked. In hindsight, it probably should have been obvious that was going to happen. Defeated, we climbed all the way back down the many, many stairs.
Attached is a picture of me from that day in September of 2017 near one of the entrances. Just wanted to share one of my favorite memories campus memories.
Anna England (CECH '21)
Photo/Lukas Bauman (DAAP '27)
Crosley Tower is incredibly significant to our family. My wife and I met and eventually started dating during a Spanish class held in Crosley Tower in the spring semester of our sophomore year back in 2011. We were married in May of 2014, and our wedding venue was Powell Crosley’s Pinecroft Estate.
UC means so much to us, and Crosley Tower was an integral part of our relationship, leading us to the wonderful life we have now — which includes our children, Major, Koufax (another UC reference), and baby boy #3, due in 2026. Although it may have a uniquely odd design, Crosley Tower will always hold a uniquely special place in our hearts.
Long live Crosley Tower!
Alyx Taggart (A&S '13) and
Blaise Taggart (CECH '13)
Photo/Phil R. Nolette III (CEAS '24)
Here is a picture of me and my roommates (we called ourselves the sharks) in front of Crosley Tower on graduation day 2024! Peep the 3D-printed Crosley Tower for our graduation caps.
Phil R. Nolette III (CEAS '24)
I have a poem I wrote my first year at UC. I saw Crosley every morning walking to DAAP from the bus stop, and the poem is supposed to be a cheesy love letter to it.
Crosley, oh Crosley,
Your imposing brutal shape,
I think about from day to day,
Against the blue sky's solid cape.
Not to deny, but romanticize,
Your geometric concrete form.
It's cold to the eye,
but I recognize,
this icon from our dorms.
One of my favorite aspects of Crosley Tower is that we all know it from different angles. It's a regular part of my morning as I've said, but it's interesting seeing views of it from across campus from people's own photos from their routine.
Aidan Metz (DAAP '28)
Photo/Gregory Hoodin
Great memory of Crosley was actually well, well after I graduated. In June 2016 , I was invited to the UC influencers event at Nippert. Part of the afternoon’s events were a tour of Nippert and to go up on the roof of Crosley . Elevator ride was interesting and the climb up the final steps kind of felt like it led to some sort of magic door to the unknown . Amazing view , could see all of campus and even the roof of the elephant house at the zoo. Photo from the roof of Crosley, the influencers at Nippert and the miniature Crosley I got on the grid while tailgating this past season . Really glad I finally got up there before it’s torn down.
Gonna look strange on campus once it’s gone.
Go Bearcats #BearcatsForLife
Gregory Hoodin, '87
Got my Crosley Tower replica sitting on my desk right now, sad to see it go.
Brady Hobbs (LCOB '23)
Photo/Brady Hobbs (LCOB '23)
I was a pre-med chemistry major at UC from 1973-77 and I spent a lot of time in Crosley Tower during those years. It took a while to get used to where all the offices and labs were. Once you got used to that, you realized everything was around the stairwells.
What I remember most was the steep stairs between floors and trying to remember which floors had the men's restroom and which floors had the women's by the stairwells; they alternated floors. I always went back at Homecoming and walked the halls of the tower to look up old professors and could always find my way around the Chemistry Department office on the fourth floor.
I have some fond memories of classes and professors that help launch me toward my medicine career.
David Jones, MD, '77
Photo / Thomas Stevenot
I'm a senior mechanical engineering student and professional photographer. I wanted to share this image of Crosley I took using a camera I built myself.
This image was taken during golden hour with a red filter which is represented as blue and two infrared filters that are represented as green and red. Because infrared passes through the atmosphere much more easily than blue light and most objects are more reflective in infrared the image looks much clearer and lighter toned than a traditional color image would be. The iridescent clouds are due to the time it took for me to setup and take each image. I capture each color separately through different filters as black and white images.
My favorite additional detail is how clearly you can see the infrared reflective coatings on the windows of the west pavilion building. Keeping UC nice and cool as always 😎
Jon Scheckel (CEAS '26)
Photo/Jon Scheckel (Ceas '26)
Photo/Macy Givan
I hated class in this building. I always sat by the door. Tiny rooms with tiny windows. Was claustrophobic.
Barb Dawson
I came across the "Goodbye, Crosley Tower" article today, and wanted to share some photos I took back in 2024. All but the first picture were taken on the top floor.
Marie Adamick (A&S '24)
Photos/Marie Adamick (A&S '24)
I worked there, together with four other German exchange students in chemistry, for about one year in 1983-84. I remember well the departmental seminars in a lower floor and the following "wine and cheese parties" in an upper one. Since the elevator was so crowded after seminars we often took the stairs. It must have been about 10 floors or more to climb, so we really earned some wine and cheese.
Our German student advisor was Hans H. Jaffe, famous for his look as well as his book on symmetry. It was an interesting time which I will always remember.
Sad to see the Crosley Tower go. It was called "Ugly Tower", but in my following career I experienced worse environments for research.
Best wishes from Beijing!
Michael Dolg, retired professor
Photo / Crosley Tower circa 2017/Grady Schutt (CEAS '19)
Crosley Tower in the news
- Architectural Digest: The 7 Ugliest University Buildings in America
- The Architect’s Newspaper: University of Cincinnati says goodbye to Crosley Tower, a 16-story Brutalist tower by A. M. Kinney Associates
- Cincinnati Enquirer: UC's concrete tower is still being demolished. What it looks like now
- Soapbox: An ode to Crosley Tower
- Engineering News Record: Why Fortress-Like Cincinnati Tower Had to Go Down Slab by Slab
- Axios: Crosley Tower coming down after decades as a polarizing landmark
- WLWT: Demolition continues on Crosley Tower at University of Cincinnati campus
- Construction Digest: Top-Down Deconstruction Enables Safe Removal of University of Cincinnati’s Crosley Tower
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