The remarkable view from the Thomas and Vivian A. Wong Honor Tower in Unity Park
Before ground broke in 2024 for the Thomas and Vivian A. Wong Honor Tower in Greenville’s Unity Park, it was difficult to envision the view from the top. So designer Paul Endres, Greenville Mayor Knox White, and a few other civic leaders climbed into a bucket lift to take a look for themselves.
“I’m usually not afraid of heights, but that was pretty scary,” says Endres, principal at Endrestudio, an architectural and structural engineering firm based in Emeryville, California, and Chicago. “The view from there is really remarkable.”
Once the optimal panorama of both downtown and the Blue Ridge Mountains was determined, the tower’s height was set at 125 feet, with an observation deck at 99 feet—10 stories off the ground, accessible by stairs or glass elevator.
For the tower, planned to open in late fall, Endrestudio designed a viewing platform is open from floor to ceiling, with nothing obstructing the 360-degree vista except a handrail and some security screening. An inner core of extruded structural steel holds the elevator, with a unique double-helix stainless-steel stair system wound around it. The stairs were crafted and installed by The Heirloom Companies, based in Campobello, who were also responsible for the giant multicolored UNITY sign and other iconic structures around the park.
Planners knew from the beginning that the 60 flat acres of Unity Park would benefit from a vertical focal point, says Mayor White, and the tower design recalls the smokestacks and wooden towers of the city’s textile history.
The tower is meant to be a beacon day and night, notes Endres. An external skin made of six custom-extruded aluminum pillars powder-coated to a metallic bronze sheen catches the sunlight, and interior lights glow through gaps in the screening after sundown.
Constructing the Honor Tower
The six intertwining pillars represent the first responders and military veterans to which the Honor Tower is dedicated—many different groups coming together to protect the community. The tower also represents connection of another sort, sitting at the point where the segregated Mayberry and Meadowbrook parks once abutted.
“I was elated when we were asked to be part of the design team,” says Endres. “We wanted to make something that would be loved by the people of the city.”
Mayor White expects Honor Tower will become as iconic a symbol as the Liberty Bridge in downtown’s Falls Park.
“It’s not just a tower,” he says. “It’s a piece of urban art and design that generations from now will be a real point of pride in the community.”
Towering Figures
In addition to military veterans and first responders, the Honor Tower pays tribute to Vivian A. Wong and the late Thomas Wong, philanthropists and entrepreneurs who moved to Greenville from Hong Kong in the 1960s. Their $1 million donation put fundraising for the project—projected to cost $11 million in private and public funds—over the top.
Unity Park, 320 S. Hudson St., Greenville
