Standard Oil “Tower to the Sun”
The 108-ft. Standard Oil Tower of the Sun, on the other end of the Plaza de America from the Ford Building, soared upward. Larrinaga invented a motif for the ground level of the building that may have been inspired by repeat key patterns on the walls of the Place of the Dead in Mitla, Oaxaca. The cleanly articulated geometric designs on the tower were Art Deco in style.
The tower was divided into quadrants, two in front being circular, two in back being square. A glass panel, in the middle of each quadrant, running from top to bottom, bore the name Standard Oil.
Dioramas and murals inside the Standard Oil Tower showed scenes from national parks with greater fidelity to depth, detail and motion than was evidenced by similar scenes on frescoes above the entrance to the building.
