About Plaza 555

Plaza Five Fifty Five enjoys the status of a landmark building: a classic expression of architectural excellence that continues to define the unique character of California’s Capitol Mall. The first Modernist office building in Sacramento, Plaza Five Fifty Five remains the Capital City’s premier business address.

The original owners of Plaza Five Fifty Five, Downtown Plaza Tower Associates, are committed to sustaining the quality of their creation and ensuring that The Plaza stays in the vanguard of style and technology. Downtown Plaza Tower Associates is comprised of prominent local business people who take pride in their building. The owners have engaged in constant renovation, using sustainable design strategies that conserve the environment and passing the benefits of reduced operating costs along to their tenants.

Today, Plaza Five Fifty Five is one of the most sophisticated office buildings in Sacramento, with integrated amenities, advanced operating systems and state-of-the art telecommunications technology. The unique historic and aesthetic quality of Plaza Five Fifty Five, coupled with the owners commitment to sustainability, earned The Plaza recognition from the Business Owners & Managers Association as Building of the Year in 2005.

History

From its inception, Plaza Five Fifty Five has set trends for architectural excellence. Designed in the spare and elegant style of Mies van der Rohe, a pioneering master of Modern architecture, Plaza Five Fifty Five was the first expression of Modernism on the Sacramento skyline. Architects McSweeney and Schuppel of San Francisco, working with Harry J. Devine of Sacramento, used a design aesthetic and materials typical of the Modernist vernacular.

Miesian buildings celebrate modern materials such as industrial steel and plate glass. The steel frame and glass curtain wall introduced at the Seagram Building in New York is one of van der Rohe’s most celebrated creations. The architects for Plaza Five Fifty Five took a similar approach, designing vertical bronze aluminum spines that accent the linear grace of the building’s bronze glass-sheathed towers. Plaza Five Fifty Five’s two connected office towers and detached parking garage added a soaring beauty to the cityscape as the tallest structure on Capitol Mall at the time it was built.

Siting the building back from Capitol Mall created an urban open space and respected views to the State Capitol. The tree-lined plaza facing Capitol Mall featured a reflecting pool with continuously splashing fountain. When Plaza Five Fifty Five was renovated in 2005, a Modernist lobby designed by Lionakis Beaumont Design Group was added and the outdoor plaza was revamped, preserving the historic fountain and creating outdoor dining areas and a sculpture garden. The lobby incorporated sustainable design strategies including orientation, natural daylighting, sunshades, lighting conservation controls and high efficiency glazing.