Tallest Building Demolition in the World

The construction of a new high-rise building attracts a lot of attention; demolition can actually be much more spectacular. Especially in densely populated urban areas. So let's take a look at the world's tallest demolition.

1. Ocean Tower Demolition

Ocean Tower was located on South Padre Island in Texas, close to SpaceX's new Starship facility.

It was over 470 feet (143.26 m) tall before falling in 2009. The building included luxury condominiums with a swimming pool, a gym, and even a spa room for the residents to enjoy.

Image Via mishtalk

After two years of construction, builders noticed that cracks started forming in the support column of Ocean Tower. It was discovered that the base of the tower had fallen down by about 14 to 16 inches.

This is why the skyscraper officially earned the nickname, “Faulty Towers” and “The Leaning Tower of South Padre.”

The construction team hoped they would fix it, but the damage was already done. Engineers analyzed the problem; they announced that the renovation work would be too costly and uneconomical.

In December 2009, a company known as Controlled Demolition Inc. conducted a controlled demolition of the building.

At the time, the million-dollar building was the largest concrete structure ever framed.

The park next to the Ocean Tower was closed for the day to ensure the safety of island residents. Nevertheless, onlookers could see the skyscraper falling in nearby hotels and restaurants.

2. Landmark Tower Demolition

The Landmark Tower was a 380 feet (115.82 m) tall tower in Fort Worth. The building first opened to the public in 1957, it was the highest skyscraper in the city.

It also had the largest revolving digital clock in the world at the top of the building. The skyscraper was originally fully occupied, but after 30 years at the end of its lifetime, it was completely abandoned.

Image Via Pinterest

Once it was hit by a tornado in March 2000 and suffered significant damage, it was decided that the building should be demolished.

In 2006, the Midwest Wrecking Company evacuated 15 blocks of the city to perform the implosion. With the help of just over 360 pounds (163.29 kg) of explosives, it took only a couple of minutes for the Landmark Tower to come tumbling down.

The site was revisited in 2016 in order to build a new parking garage in the area.

3. AFE Tower Demolition

The AFE Tower was 382 feet (116.43 m) tall. The building was the tallest tower ever to be demolished in Europe. The AFE Tower was a part of the campus of Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.

Initially, they wanted to tear it down, but after several complaints from residents about the lengthy process, it was decided to demolish the building with explosives.

His new plans garnered much media attention, and in 2014 over 30,000 people watched the explosion live on the site. With a loud bang, the concrete skeleton around the building core was first brought down.

A few seconds later, the building core was torn apart by two explosions on the 5th and 17th floors.

One part fell in the south and the other part in the north. After the property remained vacant for some years, a modern residential and hotel tower known as One Forty West was built, to the regret of the Goethe University students.

The new building has luxury apartments on the top floors and hotel rooms below them.

Read Also: Tallest Building Demolition In The World

4. Golden Flower Building Demolition

In November 2015, over 118 meters, or just 387 feet, the building known as the Golden Flower Building was demolished in the city of Xi'an, China.

Image Via Dailymail.co.uk

It was the tallest skyscraper ever to be demolished in the country. The building was originally built in 1996 but was not used for decades, even though it was legally the property of Jinhua Pharmaceutical Factory.

Trying to remodel the tower seemed too expensive, so China eventually decided to hire the Pengcheng Explosion Company and get rid of it.

The company started off by digging a 13-foot deep trench around the perimeter to reduce the impact of the explosion. With the help of 1.4 tons of dynamite and 12000 detonators, the building came crashing down into pieces.

The demolition was quick; cleaning up all the 66-foot-high piles of debris took over 70 days.

Once the area was cleared, the construction of a new commercial complex immediately began with shops and residential spaces.

5. JL Hudson's Department Store Demolition

JL Hudson's Department Store was built-in 1911. JL Hudson's department store in Detroit, Michigan was the wildest demolition ever.

The building contained everything from retail stores to office space. When the 440 feet (134.11 m) tall store first opened to the public, it was the tallest department store in the world.

After more than 80 years of operation, JL Hudson's department store was demolished in 1998.

Image Via Metrotimes

20,000 people witnessed the explosion. The blast was so strong that it broke the windows of nearby retail stores that had already been abandoned. It also accidentally damaged a Detroit People Mover, an elevated train in the city. 

Since then, construction of the 912-foot, or 278-meter, tall skyscraper began in the area and will likely open in 2022.

6. Brayton Point Power Station

This next isn't technically a building; the demolition of Brayton Point Power Station was epic.

The coal power facility in Somerset, Massachusetts, first opened in the 1960s and operated until May 2017.

Image Via World Coal

Years after the plant closed, the company that owned the facility decided to demolish the plant's two cooling towers in 2019.

The explosion set the world record for the tallest cooling towers ever blown up, each building standing at 500 feet (152.4 m).

This makes these towers only a few feet taller than the cooling tower of the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, which was the first cooling tower to be demolished in 2006.

People from all over New England flocked to Brayton Point Power Station to watch the demolition live. Over the next few months, the crew continued to dismantle various parts of the power station.

All the scrap metal created a series of fires a few days after these explosions, which added to the madness of the demolition.

7. Mina Plaza Abu Dhabi, UAE

Mina Plaza The construction of this tower was never completed, but Mina Plaza still earned the title of the tallest building to be demolished.

The plaza consisted of four separate towers standing at 553 feet (168.55 m) in the air.

The developers first started construction of Mina Plaza in 2007 but stopped a few years later in 2012 due to a dispute with the owners. Despite plans to continue construction in 2014, the project was stopped due to financial difficulties.

In 2020, the government in the capital decided to demolish the buildings. The demolition was part of a larger plan to redevelop the port of Mina Zayed.

The team that demolished Mina Plaza ensured that no one was harmed by the explosion in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. They analyzed the building and surrounding areas to ensure the safest demolition possible.

Using 13,000 pounds (5.9 tons) of plastic explosives, the towers fell to the ground. Three buildings collapsed at first, but after 10 seconds, all four turned into huge piles of rubble.

8. Westerholt Power Station Demolition

Mina Plaza was about to be our number one, but we didn't want to stop this final demolition. At 1105 feet (336.8 m), the chimney of the power station Westerholt was the tallest controlled structure ever to be demolished.

Image Via Mapio

There are several large tall chimneys demolished that are taller than the previous 168 meters high Mina Plaza, but Westerholt was the tallest.

The chimney was made in 1981 in Germany. When the power station was shut down in 2005, the chimney suffered its unfortunate fate a year later.

The structure was blown up on two different levels, one blast downstream and one in the middle.

So many spectators showed up to record and take photographs of the explosion that it actually delayed the team from being able to demolish the building in time.

Soon, the chimney was nothing more than a giant mound of rubble.