Vertical Access was contracted to assist Stephen J. Kelley, Inc. and Heritage Architecture Studio LLC with the assessment of the exterior building materials on the Tower by performing a hands-on and close visual survey of the exterior façades using rope access.

The Mid-Continent Tower is comprised of two distinct buildings: the Cosden Building and the Tower Building. Constructed in 1917, the fifteen-story Cosden Building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is an early concrete frame structure clad in cream-colored glazed terra cotta units. The Tower Building, constructed in 1984, is a thirty-six-story steel frame structure clad with a curtain wall of terra cotta/glass fiber reinforced concrete panels that mimics the design of the Cosden Building. It is cantilevered over the Cosden Building so that the two buildings appear to be one.

Photography by Stephen J. Kelley.