How do Maine’s tallest buildings compare to other tall things?

My first job after graduating college was at large newspaper in South Florida. Well, it was an internship, actually. At the time, I remember saying to my other intern co-worker, Leslie, that it was *so cool* to work in a skyscraper. She scoffed that I called our building a skyscraper.

The building I worked in as an intern in 2009 (as seen from Google Streetview in 2014).

The building I worked in as an intern in 2009 (as seen from Google Streetview in 2014).

Leslie was from Long Island, NY, and did not consider 20-something floor building a skyscraper. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and not only was this building far, far taller than the tallest building in Maine, but the floor we worked on was almost as tall as the tallest building in Maine.

Today I get to work out of Bangor’s own little “skyscraper” on the 6th floor of 1 Merchants Plaza, and I remembered those summer days in South Florida. It got me thinking — how do Maine’s tallest buildings compare?

According to Wikipedia, Maine’s tallest building is the Franklin Towers in Portland at 16 stories tall:

As captured by BDN photographer Troy R. Bennett in September, 2014.

As captured by BDN photographer Troy R. Bennett in September, 2014.

With our tallest building at 175 feet tall, that means Maine ranks 47th in the country in terms of the tallest building per state. So, perspective matters.

Maine’s tallest structure is the former St. Patrick’s Church in Lewiston at 220 ft. tall — though its tallest point isn’t accessible by humans, so it doesn’t count in the tallest building rankings.

St. Patrick's Church as seen in Google Streetview in April 2012.

St. Patrick’s Church as seen in Google Streetview in April 2012.

As an aside — if you’ve lived in Lewiston, like me, you’re probably thinking, “seriously that church is taller than the Basilica?” — and apparently, it is, as the Basilica’s towers are 168 ft, according to this website.

So how do Maine’s tallest buildings compare with other tall things?

It’s a little more than twice as tall as a blue whale is long.

 

How Maine's tallest buildings compare with a blue whale

 

It’s about one-tenth the height of 1 World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere (1,776 ft.)

 

How Maine's tallest buildings compare to 1 World Trade Center

 

It’s a little less than half the height of Hyperion, the world’s tallest tree (379 ft.):

How do Maine's tallest buildings compare to the world's tallest tree

 

A little less than two-thirds the height of the Statue of Liberty:

How do Maine's buildings compare to the statue of Liberty?

Maine ranks in the bottom third for population density in the country and you can tell just by the fact that we don’t have many tall buildings.

I’ve driven by the Franklin Towers in Portland dozens of times, but I couldn’t have told you that it was the tallest building in the state until I started doing this research. And I parked across the street from St. Patrick’s church in Lewiston every day for years and I didn’t even realize it was the tallest structure in Lewiston-Auburn (it is at the bottom of a hill).

So when this country girl goes to the big city, that’s why she’s easily impressed. What is tall to Mainers is just not that tall to everyone else.