Carew Tower is a 49-story, Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The second-tallest building in the city, it was Cincinnati's tallest from 1930 until 2011, when it was surpassed by Great American Tower at Queen City Square. The tower is named after Mabley & Carew department store proprietor Joseph T. Carew, who was the namesake of a previous structure on the site.

The Carew Tower was developed by industrialist John J. Emery, who sought to create a mixed-use "city within a city" with an office and retail tower, a hotel, and a parking garage. Planning was assisted by skyscraper pioneer William A. Starrett, whose firm Starrett Brothers, Inc. became the project's contractor. Walter W. Ahlschlager served as the complex's principal architect, with Delano & Aldrich as an associate architect. Announced shortly before the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, work on the project continued despite poor economic conditions. The office and retail tower topped out in July 1930, and the entire complex was complete by early 1931 at a cost of $33 million ($ in ).

Upon its completion in 1930, the tallest of the complex's three towers housed commercial offices on the majority of floors, a retail arcade on the lower levels, and an observation deck on the top floor. In its later years as a commercial property, the tower was beset by high vacancy rates and financial difficulties. In 2022, the tower was purchased by developer Victrix Investments LLC, which announced plans to convert it into a primarily residential building by late 2029. The complex's hotel opened as the St. Nicholas Plaza in 1931, but has operated under a variation of the name Netherland Plaza for most of its history, becoming the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza in 2002. Previously under common ownership with the rest of the complex, the hotel was excluded from the 2022 sale. The parking garage, which was the shortest tower, closed in 1979 and was subsequently demolished.

Celebrated by local media and public figures within Cincinnati, the Carew Tower is among the city's foremost landmarks. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994, with the National Park Service describing it as "one of the finest examples of skyscraper modernism in America" and "the most complete statement of the 1920s' Jazz Age".

History

Planning and construction

thumb|left|August 1929 map of the plot of land, labeled "Emery estate", that would later host the Carew Tower

The Carew Tower replaced the 1891 Carew Building, a nine-story structure designed by James W. McLaughlin in the Romanesque style. The Carew Building was named after Joseph T. Carew, founder of the Mabley & Carew department store. The Emery Hotel & Arcade, established by industrialist Thomas Emery in 1877, was located nearby. Thomas Emery's widow, Mary Emery, purchased the Carew Building in May 1925 for $2,000,000 ($ in ). At the time, The Cincinnati Post reported that Mary Emery was considering building a new hotel on the site as a memorial to her deceased husband. The following month, a court permitted the Emerys to place many of their properties under the management of realty firm Thomas Emery's Sons, Inc. By the end of the year, the Andrews Building was the only structure on the eventual site of the Carew Tower to be outside of Emery ownership. On March 22, 1929, Thomas Emery's Sons purchased the Andrews Building for $1,000,000 ($ in ), giving it control of a contiguous plot of land on the southern portion of Fifth Street between Race and Vine Streets. On March 30, tenants in most of the existing buildings on the plot were told to vacate by June 1 ahead of a new construction project. The Emery Hotel closed on June 3 in preparation for the project.

This project, which would become the Carew Tower, was conceived by realtor Walter S. Schmidt of the Frederick A. Schmidt Company. John J. Emery, vice president of Thomas Emery's Sons, served as the project's developer. Early plans called for a mixed-use "city within a city", featuring a department store, a theater, office space, and a hotel to rival the Waldorf-Astoria. Schmidt and Emery negotiated a deal with skyscraper pioneer William A. Starrett, who subsequently assumed control of the tower's planning. Starrett's firm Starrett Brothers, Inc. became the project's general contractor. Starrett Brothers hired Walter W. Ahlschlager as the project's principal architect, while Emery preferred Delano & Aldrich, which had previously built a house for Emery in Indian Hill. Delano & Aldrich was subsequently hired as an associate architect. Ahlschlager's design was heavily influenced by the Crane Tower, an unrealized skyscraper in Chicago that he had previously designed. Many of his proposals did not make it into the final design, which was prepared by Delano & Aldrich and influenced by its earlier Wall and Hanover Building. A crew of 700 men demolished the Carew Building over the course of 30 days, with 400 working during the day and 300 working at night. The Carew Building was the tallest structure in the city to have been demolished up to that point. On September 9, the vice president of the wrecking company announced that his employees would begin digging the building's foundation in 10 days. By mid-October, the Marks Building was the last of the 13 structures on the site still standing. The entire demolition project, which was the largest in Cincinnati history at the time, was completed after 51 working days.

thumb|"View looking south on excavation", January 1930

Work on the project began shortly before the stock market crash on October 24 that triggered the Great Depression. Emery had sold his stocks weeks beforehand in order to finance the building, which reduced the crash's impact on the project. Construction continued on a modified plan. In November, a Starrett executive denied rumors that the project had been canceled or downsized, instead announcing that the project would be increased in size as a reflection of the Starretts' "belief in the marvelous future that lies ahead of Cincinnati". The first concrete was poured on January 8, 1930. 400 workers helped pour the base of the structure, finishing after 30 hours of continuous work. Underpinning of adjacent structures was completed by January 25, by which time excavation was projected to conclude before February 15. Steel construction was scheduled to begin on February 10. Starrett Brothers set a goal to raise the steel framework in under 50 days, with the first steel raised on March 6.

thumb|left|upright=0.50|[[E. A. Bushnell cartoon celebrating the end of the strike]]

Workers laid steel for the first three floors until March 24, when the International Association of Iron Workers began a sympathy strike in response to Starrett Brothers' use of non-union workers for the construction of the Empire State Building in New York City. 259 iron and steel workers temporarily left the project due to the strike, though workers in other professions continued to operate. In April, Northwestern Mutual took out a $12 million ($ in ) mortgage on the tower, which was the largest mortgage ever taken in Cincinnati at the time. Al Smith, former governor of New York and president of the company developing the Empire State Building, made several unsuccessful attempts to negotiate an end to the strike. The union reached an agreement with the Structural Steel Board of Trade of New York on May 12, ending the strike. By that time, Carew Tower workers who had not gone on strike had "'accomplished about all that was possible'" without further steel work. The strike cost workers nearly $2 million ($ in ) in lost wages. It lasted 49 days and occurred over a period of largely favorable weather for building, but a project official stated that construction would still roughly follow its original schedule. Work on the 25th floor began on June 19, marking the completion of over half of the steel framework. Stonework on the lower levels was nearly complete by that time, and brickwork had advanced to the ninth floor. A fire broke out on the 22nd floor on June 23, which was extinguished by city firefighters. On June 26, three Soviet representatives from the state-owned Avtostroy toured the building as part of a study of American engineering developments. A fire on the 13th floor was extinguished on June 29. On July 5, the tower became the tallest building in the city after work began on the 44th floor. By July 6, two workers had died from construction-related incidents. Emery's wife raised an American flag over the tower on July 9 to commemorate its topping out. With 15,000 tons of steel raised over 61 days, the speed at which the framework had been completed set a world record. On July 26, exterior brickwork on the hotel portion of the complex was finished. Brickwork on the tower was completed on August 8. Unions ordered a walkout strike on August 21 after wood trim was shipped to the construction site pre-painted by non-union workers. Later that day, a deal was reached to leave the existing paint intact, but to have future wood painted by union employees. Work resumed on August 22. Brickwork on the garage was completed on September 29.

The tower opened to tenants on October 1, 1930. The hotel followed on January 28, 1931. The garage was operational by the time the hotel opened, though its formal dedication ceremony did not occur until February 14. 17 months passed between the announcement of the project and its completion. The project involved over 2000 workers in total, making it among the largest employers in Cincinnati at the time. The total cost of the complex was $33 million ($ in ), which was "an enormous sum for that time". Of this, $15 million had gone towards the land, while $15 million was dedicated to construction. At the time, the project was the largest realty deal in American history.

The tower's first commercial tenant was Edward J. Reardon of the Carney Cement Co., who opened his office on the 29th floor on October 1, 1930. H. & S. Pogue also moved into the retail arcade shortly after the tower's opening, and the two department stores served as the largest tenants in the arcade. Emery's own Emery Industries was one of the earliest commercial tenants to move into the tower, where it would remain until 1985. In July 1931, an employee of the Frederick A. Schmidt Co. stated that the tower was over 70% occupied. A 1940 article in The Cincinnati Enquirer stated that the tower was only 22% occupied upon the Emery acquisition in 1932. After Emery became president of the Charter Committee in 1935, the Committee moved its headquarters to the tower. By February 1940, occupancy had risen to over 90%. Mabley & Carew left the tower in 1960, allowing H. & S. Pogue to expand into its section of the arcade.

The hotel, which featured 800 rooms upon its completion, was initially named St. Nicholas Plaza after Cincinnati's defunct St. Nicholas Hotel. Ohio Governor George White was granted the hotel's first registration card, though White did not personally visit the hotel at the time. The opening dinner on January 28, 1931 was attended by almost 1000 guests. Reichl hired bandleader Wayne King to perform at the hotel for its first weeks of operation, and King composed the "St. Nicholas Plaza March" to play on the opening night. On February 3, a court ruled that the rights to the St. Nicholas name belonged to the Hotel Sinton, which purchased the name in 1911. As the hotel had already ordered over $300,000 ($ in ) in supplies monogrammed with the original name's initials, hotel officials sought a replacement with the same initials. After considering over 2000 alternative names, Reichl and Starrett Brothers decided upon "Starrett's Netherland Plaza" on February 7. The new name was abbreviated as "St.'s Netherland Plaza" on hotel signage, though the general public was expected to exclude Starrett's name. "Netherland" referenced the hotel's location in the low-lying basin of the Ohio River. A fire broke out in the Netherland Plaza on January 21, 1942, causing at least $400,000 ($ in ) in damage to the hotel and retailers. It was Cincinnati's costliest fire "in many years" at the time. In 1956, Hilton Hotels purchased the Terrace Plaza Hotel and acquired a 25-year lease to the Netherland Plaza for $25 million ($ in ). The hotel was subsequently renamed the Hotel Netherland Hilton. Much of the original Art Deco architecture was concealed by a modernization effort in the 1960s. The management company of the garage was founded under the name Fountain Square Parking Unit, Inc. in January 1930, but changed its name to Carew Tower Parking Unit, Inc. in October of that year. On October 31, 1931, the company was sued by two employees of its parent company, National Parking Garages, Inc., who sought to dissolve it. The company was placed into receivership the day the suit was filed, but exited receivership at the end of the following month, with the plaintiffs dismissing their petition on December 1. By the late 1950s, the garage was struggling to meet use expectations. The conversion did not materialize, and the garage closed in 1979. In March 1967, Thomas Emery's Sons sold the land occupied by the Carew Tower to New York-based Bankers Trust for an undisclosed amount, which then leased the land back to Thomas Emery's Sons for 30 years. At the time, the county estimated the value of the land to be $2,132,100 ($ in ). As part of the deal, Thomas Emery's Sons also took out an $11.2 million ($ in ) mortgage on the tower from Bankers Trust. The Prudential mortgage had "long since been paid off" by that time. On October 1, 1969, Thomas Emery's Sons sold the tower for $12,354,029 ($ in ) to the Emery Realty Co. The sale resulted in no changes to the tower's management; Emery family members chose to operate through Emery Realty in an attempt to circumvent the trustee of Thomas Emery's Sons.

Renovations and Belvedere acquisition

thumb|upright=0.60|The remnant of a demolished [[Cincinnati Skywalk|skywalk over Race Street protrudes from the base of the Netherland Plaza in 2025]]

In 1980, Emery Realty agreed to connect the Netherland Plaza to a Race Street portion of the Cincinnati Skywalk on the condition that it would choose the exact location of the skywalk. In 1981, Hilton declined to renew its lease over the hotel, which closed at the end of the year as it began a major remodel. The $28 million ($ in ) remodel restored much of the original architecture and consolidated numerous rooms, decreasing the total room count to 624. As the city had already informed Saks and the Department of Housing and Urban Development that it would build the skywalk, the city planned to construct a $475,000 ($ in ) "bridge to nowhere" that would cross Race Street without actually entering the Netherland Plaza. In May, Emery Realty ended its lawsuit after the city agreed to adjust plans for the skywalk so that it would no longer enter the Palm Court. The hotel reopened in October 1983 under the management of Dunfey Hotels. The hotel became the Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel in April 1984 after Dunfey reorganized as Omni Hotels & Resorts.

thumb|upright=0.60|The vacant [[food court at Tower Place in July 2013]]

Emery Realty took out a $50.5 million mortgage in January 1988, borrowing $37 million from Western & Southern and $13.5 million from Fifth Third Bank. The money was used to pay off prior debts and buy out members of the Emery Holding Co. H. & S. Pogue, by then rebranded as L. S. Ayres, closed its Carew Tower location later that year. In June, developers Faison Associates of Charlotte, North Carolina and Noro Realty Advsiors of Atlanta announced plans for Tower Place, a shopping mall that would occupy the former Ayres space. Faison would serve as the primary developer, with Noro Realty Advisors and Emery Realty as partners. The mall's anchor stores were slated to be Saks Fifth Avenue and McAlpin's, both of which were pre-existing stores in separate buildings that would be connected to Tower Place by skywalks. Emery Realty planned a contemporaneous, $12 million renovation of the Carew Tower's retail arcade, which would be directly connected to Tower Place. Emery also sought to refurbish the Carew Tower's defunct parking garage. In July, the Cincinnati City Council agreed to support Tower Place with $6.5 million in tax increment financing. City officials intended for Tower Place to help revitalize the struggling downtown shopping industry. Plans for Tower Place were finalized in August 1988, with an estimated cost of $47 million and a projected opening in spring 1990. Emery Realty decided to demolish the garage as well, stating that it was "not economical" to find an alternative use for the structure. Councilman John Mirlisena stated that demolishing the garage could push the mall's opening into 1991. In April, Emery Realty agreed to give Faison control of leasing arrangements for the arcade. Demolition was scheduled to resume on May 8. On May 11, the city council agreed to purchase the Parkdale Garage from Emery Realty for $9.5 million, which would be used to finance the demolition of the Carew Tower garage and the arcade renovation. The city also loaned Emery Realty $2 million for skywalk improvements. The Cincinnati Enquirer stated that Tower Place was "on the brink of being abandoned" before the council's intervention. By then, the projected opening had been delayed again to August 1990. In the summer, Emery Realty borrowed an additional $4 million from Fifth Third to finance the arcade renovation and garage demolition. On September 13, the city council sided with Faison, setting aside $1 million to spend on any penalties incurred by Faison for paying lower wages. Excavation began on October 12. Later that month, owners of the nearby Gidding-Jenny building won a temporary restraining order against Faison, preventing Tower Place workers from inserting metal rods for the mall's walls into Gidding-Jenny property. The suit was resolved after Faison agreed to connect Tower Place to Gidding-Jenny via walkways.

Emery Realty defaulted on its 1988 mortgage in January 1990. Belvedere announced that it would invest over $30 million in a renovation of the arcade, office space, and hotel. In February, Faison informed the city council that Tower Place would not be open by fall 1990. The delay was the result of a disagreement over whether or not the former Ayres garage, owned by Shell Pension Trust, would be connected to the new Tower Place garage. Construction was also delayed when a worker was struck by falling bricks. By the end of February, Faison stated that it was targeting an opening date in the spring or fall of 1991. Operating through the limited partnership Carew Partners, Belvedere purchased the entire stock of the Emery Holding Co. in April, giving it full ownership of the Carew Tower complex. Construction resumed in June after Shell Pension Trust gave Faison an easement to connect the Ayres and Tower Place garages. Shell Pension Trust purchased a half-interest in Carew Partners in December, with Belvedere continuing to manage the complex. In July 1992, the Enquirer referred to Tower Place as "a success", but stated that it was largely attracting customers from other downtown retailers rather than drawing new consumers downtown.

Belvedere became the manager of the Netherland Plaza in 1996, though the hotel remained an Omni franchise. The hotel entered into a franchise agreement with Hilton in 2002, at which point it became known as the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel. Hilton announced that they would renovate the hotel for an undisclosed amount, with the elevators and bathrooms being a focus for renovation. Belvedere Hotels spent almost $10 million on another renovation in 2012.

thumb|Mabley Place

Faison transferred management of Tower Place to Madison Marquette at the beginning of 2004. In January of that year, The Cincinnati Post stated that Tower Place's "role as a magnet for downtown is in question", with the mall having lost several tenants in the early 2000s. The skywalk between Tower Place and McAlpin's, which had closed in 1996, was slated to be demolished in September 2004. Northeastern Securities Development Corp. purchased Tower Place in August 2007. Madison Marquette agreed to a $200,000 settlement with the state government after the Ohio Department of Commerce stated that Madison Marquette lacked an Ohio real estate broker's license. In December 2007, Northeastern replaced Madison Marquette with CB Richard Ellis in response to the settlement. By 2012, the city government was considering buying the mostly vacant Tower Place and a nearby parking garage for $8.8 million. The purchase was completed for $8.5 million the following year to prevent the mall from entering foreclosure. The remaining tenants subsequently vacated the building. The city sold the mall for $1 to an affiliate of developer JDL Warm, which announced a $5 million plan to convert it into a 775-spot parking garage with retail space on the exterior of the first floor. The proposed name of the garage was Mabley Place, referencing Mabley & Carew. The garage opened in the fall of 2014. Mabley Place sold for $15 million less than three months later, with a Nevada-based investor acquiring a majority interest.

thumb|The base of the tower in 2016, showing its lower-level retailers and a now-demolished [[Cincinnati Skywalk|skywalk connection]]

The Carew Tower was one of four Cincinnati high-rises listed for sale in 2006 amidst rising vacancy rates for downtown office buildings. In 2012, a mortgage from Fifth Third Bank with a maximum principal indebtedness of $81.5 million and a maturity date of 2037 was filed with the Hamilton County recorder's office. In 2013, the tower had a vacancy rate of 13%, which was 10% lower than the downtown average. In January of that year, Cincinnati Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls stated that a residential conversion of the tower was the subject of "active talks" as part of the city's push to encourage downtown housing. After Belvedere denied this report in a letter to tenants, Qualls stated that the talks had taken place among community members and city officials rather than with Belvedere. In August 2013, Belvedere CEO Alex Warm dismissed suggestions for residential conversion, stating that revenue from the offices and hotel was sufficient. In 2017, a plan was submitted to divide the tower into condominiums, prompting media speculation about potential residential conversion. In early 2019, nearly half of the retail and office space in the tower was vacant. By September of that year, Power had asked a tenant in the building to consider moving to lower floors to make way for residential condos on the upper levels. Carew Realty Inc. also took out a loan of over $9 million from First Financial Bank in 2019. In 2020, remaining corporate tenants included Cincinnati magazine and two law firms.

Victrix acquisition and residential conversion

The tower was listed for sale in July 2020, with Cushman & Wakefield serving as the broker. The Netherland Plaza was not included in the sale. The 400,000 square feet of office space in the tower was valued at $18.4 million, while the Carew Tower Arcade, consisting of 110,000 square feet of retail space in the basement and on the first two floors, was valued at $9.7 million. In October 2021, First Financial sold the 2019 loan to Veles Partners LLC.

thumb|upright=0.75|The complex viewed from the north. After the 2022 sale, the office and retail tower (left) was transferred to Victrix Investments LLC for residential conversion, while the hotel (right) continued to operate under its prior ownership

New York-based developer Victrix Investments LLC, a corporate affiliate of Veles Partners, purchased the tower for $18 million in August 2022. Power retained control of the Netherland Plaza, with Victrix only acquiring the office and retail tower. Victrix announced plans to convert the tower into a primarily residential building. In November 2023, Magistrate Anita Berding of the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas ruled against the hotel, determining that Power had defaulted on his loan and owed $84.9 million. Power was given three days after the ruling to pay back the owed funds, after which the hotel's lenders could choose to sell it at a sheriff's auction. Court rulings in 2024 found that Power also owed $1 million to the city and $1.6 million to the county for unpaid lodging taxes.

In December 2022, the state of Ohio awarded the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority $6.4 million for brownfield environmental remediation at the Carew Tower. Planned remediation efforts included asbestos abatement, interior demolition, and the replacement of the building's roof. In November 2023, wind hit scaffolding while the building was undergoing renovation, causing bricks to fall from the tower. No injuries were reported, but a car was lightly damaged and sections of Vine Street and Fifth Street were temporarily closed. The following month, the tower received a $10 million tax credit from the state government for historic preservation, including the replacement of the building's metal windows and the repair of its exterior facade. At the time, the converted building was slated to include 385 apartments with amenities on floors 45 and 46. Victrix received an additional $4.2 million tax credit in January 2024 as part of a state program to encourage mixed-use development. In September 2024, the Port agreed to assist Victrix with obtaining construction materials for the tower's renovation without paying sales taxes.

By 2025, the plan for the tower's residential conversion called for 375 market-rate apartment units on the 4th through 49th floors, with 65,000 square feet on the first three floors reserved for retail space. The plan also called for ten units of short-term corporate housing. The conversion is projected to cost $162 million, of which $54 million will be paid by Victrix itself. In exchange for a 30-year tax abatement from the city government, Victrix would contribute $16.7 million to Cincinnati Public Schools and $1 million to the Cincinnati streetcar over the course of the abatement. On May 12, the city council's Budget and Finance Committee recommended that the conversion be approved. The city also planned to forgive the $2 million skywalk construction loan from 1989, which Victrix had inherited. The council unanimously approved the tax abatement, which city officials stated was necessary for the project to proceed, on May 14. The conversion was slated to begin in 2025 and finish by the end of 2029.

  • Later that year Oscar Perlmutter, a 61-year-old scrap dealer, jumped from the 42nd floor to his death.
  • In 1952, Robert Maxwell Jones Jr., aged 26, rode an elevator up to the 45th floor, then stepped off to take the stairs to the observation deck. When he found the door to the deck locked, he opened a window on the 47th floor, and climbed out onto a three-foot ledge. Occupants in the building pleaded for Jones to climb back inside, but he refused, at one point, hanging by his hands off a ledge. Over 5,000 people gathered on the streets below to watch Jones. After several hours, rescuers managed to drag him back into the building.
  • In 1953, 23-year-old Hazel Gundrum fatally leapt from the 43rd floor.
  • In 1961, Dorothy Holt, aged 38, fatally jumped from the 49th story observatory.
  • In 1969, a Price Hill resident, Barbara Ann Koch, jumped out of a window on the 40th floor to her death.
  • In 1978, Robert McMurray, a 34-year-old arrested on an attempted rape charge, jumped from the 49th floor observation deck.
  • In 1992, 22-year-old Daniel Fluegeman jumped to his death from the 49th floor observatory, landing on the 16th floor patio of the Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel.
  • In 2000, a woman leapt to her death from the 49th floor observatory.
  • In 2016, a man jumped to his death from the 49th floor observation deck.

Architecture

Exterior

thumb|The east facade of the tower viewed from 5th Street

The Carew Tower and the Netherland Plaza share a five-story base. The first floor of the Carew Tower portion of the base consists of black granite with large windows, which are framed by “simple”, reeded white brass. The three-part windows of the limestone second floor feature ornamental lintels with cartouche. The Carew Tower's primary frontispiece, which leads into the retail arcade, occupies two stories in the central portion of the east facade. The frontispiece is decorated with cast metal bas-relief carvings of transportation methods. Two semicircular columns with palmette caps sit on both sides of the frontispiece. A sculpture of an eagle atop a globe, situated in front of a pediment and surrounded by foliated decoration, sits above the entrance to the arcade. A section of the Cincinnati Skywalk connected the second floor of the east facade to the Westin Hotel. The remaining floors of the base are marked by pairs of recessed windows divided by fluted piers. The base's trim is decorated with an oval motif with limestone coping across the east and north facades. The air registers also display floral patterns. Display windows and doorways are enclosed by a metallic zig-zag design. The walls consist of a mixture of light and dark-colored stone. The lower level of the arcade, which provided access to the garage, contains travertine walls with arched display windows. Pseudo-dentillation is employed in the interior cornice, which is topped by an ornamental scallop design.

Height

thumb|Looking east from the tower's observation deck. Visible on the right is [[Great American Tower at Queen City Square|Great American Tower, which displaced the Carew Tower as Cincinnati's tallest building in 2011]]

The Carew Tower stands 49 stories and tall, rising to when the flagpole on the roof is included. It was the second-tallest building in Ohio upon its construction, behind only Terminal Tower in Cleveland. The tower remained the city's tallest building until 2011, when it was displaced by Great American Tower at Queen City Square. The Carew Tower has eight more floors and more usable space than Great American Tower, but is roughly 90 feet shorter due to the tiara structure that adorns Great American Tower. Until the completion of Great American Tower, Cincinnati had been among the last major cities in the United States whose tallest building predated World War II. The parking garage stood 27 stories and high, making it the shortest of the three structures within the complex, but it was among the tallest buildings in the world dedicated to parking. Its demolition made it the tallest building in Ohio to be destroyed at the time.

Construction of the Carew Tower took place during a period of civic reform in Cincinnati as the city moved away from an era of patronage and boss rule, and the project was regarded by many community figures as symbolic of the city's progress. Tower developer John J. Emery was a prominent supporter of political reform, serving as a high-ranking member of the Charter Committee. Stating that the Charter Committee's platform combined “the prewar Progressive tradition with the modern postwar gospel of business efficiency”, architectural historian Edward W. Wolner connected the building's mixed-use design with Charterite ideology. Wolner stated that the complex was “an unusual example in the 1920s of the congruence between progressive skyscraper design and planning on the one hand, and progressive social and political tendencies on the other”.

The Carew Tower and Netherland Plaza were added to the National Register of Historic Places as a single entity on August 5, 1982. In 1991, the Netherland Plaza became a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994. The National Park Service referred to the complex as "one of the finest examples of skyscraper modernism in America" and "the most complete statement of the 1920s' Jazz Age, an embodiment of speed, high style, and a mass-market machine age". The Enquirer has referred to the tower as “one of Cincinnati's most historic landmarks” In 2021, City Councilman David S. Mann described it as “a symbol of our core downtown”.