page_title: Torre Latinoamericana
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Torre Latinoamericana / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Español: Espiral y antena de la Torre Latinoamericana en la Ciudad de México.
context_page_description: The Torre Latinoamericana is a skyscraper in downtown Mexico City, situated in the historic city center. Its central location, height, and history make it one of the city's most important landmarks. It is widely recognized internationally as an engineering and architectural landmark since it was the world's first major skyscraper successfully built on highly active seismic zone. The skyscraper notably withstood the 8.1 magnitude 1985 Mexico City earthquake without damage, whereas several other structures in the downtown area were damaged.
  The Torre Latinoamericana was Mexico's tallest completed building for almost 27 years, from its opening in 1956 until 1982 when the 214 m tall Torre Ejecutiva Pemex was completed. Although the structure of the Hotel de México had already surpassed it a decade earlier, it wouldn't be finished until 1994.
context_section_description: Many think it was the first skyscraper in Mexico. However, skyscrapers may have first appeared in Mexico City between 1910 and 1935. The tallest of the time, the International Capital Building (Edificio Internacional de Capitalización) was completed in 1935. This building was surpassed by the Edificio Miguel E. Abed, which, in turn, was surpassed by the Latinoamericana Tower. The Latinoamericana Tower opened its doors on April 30, 1956.
  The Torre Latinoamericana was built on the place which was formerly occupied by the animal house, some kind of zoo of the Tlatoani Mexica Moctezuma II. After the conquest, there was built Convent of San Francisco. Later, the monastery was disbanded and most of its property confiscated. 
  The Torre Latinoamericana was built to headquarter La Latinoamericana, Seguros, S.A., an insurance company founded on April 30, 1906. The building took its name from this company as it began to be built during the postwar boom of the late 1940s, which lasted until the early 1970s. At the time of its construction, the insurance company was controlled by the Mexican tycoon Miguel S. Macedo, who headed one of Mexico's largest financial consortiums at the time.
  Originally the insurance company occupied a smaller building at the same location. In 1947 it temporarily relocated to a nearby office while the tower was built. Once it was finished in 1956, the insurance company moved into the tower's 4th to 8th floors. The rest of the building's office space was for lease. At the time of its completion the Torre Latinoamericana was the 45th tallest building in the world. It was also the tallest building in Latin America, and the fourth in height in the world outside New York. Its public observation deck on the 44th floor is the highest in Mexico City.
caption: The Torre Latinoamericana's antenna
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-W35", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picture Motion Browser", "Image DateTime": "2009:08:18 15:19:04", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "376", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Manual", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Night", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 5, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2892", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4900", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:04:27 11:21:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:04:27 11:21:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "480", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "640", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2756"}