Delaware's only I. M. Pei design rises 282 feet above you here as the Wilmington Tower. This is the only building in Delaware designed by the noted architect I. M. Pei, and it rises as the third tallest building in the state. Completed in 1971, it tops out at 282 feet (86 m) and contains 23 floors.
The project was announced in 1964 by the American Life Insurance Company, or ALICO, and local papers greeted Pei’s slender design with enthusiasm — one columnist wrote, "... we will be as proud of the American Life Insurance Building... as we are of Old Swedes Church and the other charming colonial structures in these parts.
Construction began in 1966 and, though originally scheduled for 1968, the work stretched into a six-year construction period because of labor shortages, weather, and Pei’s exacting standards. The building was officially named the Wilmington Tower in 1970, but it ran into financial difficulties almost immediately and was reported to have greatly overrun its $6.5 million budget, with a final cost unknown. Picture the six-year construction battling labor shortages and weather, and follow its facade up all 23 floors among the office towers it joined.