The Death of an Icon | The Demolition of Crosley Tower | Cincinnati, OH

Crosley Tower was a 16 story lab and research building at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH. It was built in the late 1960s and was one of the most iconic and infamous buildings in the city, and one of the most famous examples of Brutalist architecture in the United States. It's a real shame that this building is gone, as nothing will ever be built like it again. In this video, I briefly cover the history of the building before heading inside to check out the elevators and explore the top floor. We'll then watch the building get demolished. A little bit more about the video: I hadn't really seen much about this building getting demolished other than a few short news articles and clips online, so I wanted to make sure I documented it as best as I could, as this was a really special building. The inside footage was shot in March of 2024. Obviously I wish I filmed more of the interior, but it's better than nothing. I got lucky on that visit and the abandoned 16th floor was unlocked. This floor had been closed for some time and had already had its asbestos removed. I'm kicking myself for not returning before it closed in 2025, as I would have filmed the conversation pit in the lobby. I also would have shot some more detailed footage of each floor. The whole demolition took a little over a year to complete. Interior demolition/asbestos removal and exterior demolition prep (installing construction elevator and work platforms, demolishing parking garage and plaza) took place from July 2025 to January 2026. The actual exterior demolition of the tower began in February 2026. I filmed as much as I could over that time. It was really fascinating to watch the building come down piece by piece. It's not as dramatic as an implosion, but at least if gave those of us that liked the building a longer chance to say goodbye! Towards the end of the demolition, it was really cool to see into the guts of the building. The building core was completely open and the stairs and elevators were exposed. The elevator doors and directional lanterns were just left in place and you could see the guide rails in the shafts. This was a fun video to make and hopefully you learned something and found it as fascinating as I did! Here's some really cool drone footage of the demolition:    • Crosley Tower demolition 5/21/26   1951 Otis Elevator Catalog: https://archive.org/details/modernhos... Interesting Crosley Tower Reads: https://www.cincinnati.com/picture-ga... https://www.modernnati.com/single-pos... https://soapboxmedia.com/an-ode-to-cr... https://rebeccawingo.com/courses/phwi... https://lepajuju.design/Crosley-Display https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2026... Chapters: 0:00 Crosley Tower Overview 2:34 Elevator & Dumbwaiter Setup 4:24 Demolition Announced 5:28 Riding The Elevators 10:54 Checking Out The Dumbwaiter 12:01 Vintage Exit Signs 12:47 Floors 1-15 14:01 Exploring Floor 16 19:51 Demolition | December 2025 20:55 Demolition | January 2026 26:28 Demolition | February 2026 30:42 Demolition | March 2026 31:30 Shortening The Construction Elevator 42:13 March Demolition Progress 43:14 Demolition | April 2026 46:21 Demolition | July 2026 49:03 Demolition | August 2026 49:59 Outro