List of tallest buildings in Knoxville facts for kids

View of the skyline of downtown Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee, is a city with many impressive buildings! This article lists the tallest skyscrapers and other structures in the city. The very tallest building in Knoxville is the First Tennessee Plaza, which has 27 floors. Right next to it is the Riverview Tower, with 24 floors. The Tower at Morgan Hill comes in third, standing at 22 stories tall. You might also know the Sunsphere, a famous landmark that is the city's fourth tallest structure, reaching 265 feet (81 meters) into the sky.

Knoxville's Tallest Buildings

This list shows the ten tallest buildings in Knoxville. We measure their height including spires and cool architectural parts, but not antenna masts. The "Year" column tells you when each building was finished.

Rank	Name	Image	Height in feet	Height in meters	Floors	Year
1	First Tennessee Plaza		327	100	27	1979
2	Riverview Tower		312	95	24	1985
3	Tower at Morgan Hill (Kingston Apartments)				22	1967
4	Sunsphere		265	81	5	1982
5	Andrew Johnson Building		203	62	18	1928
6	The Holston		193	59	15	1912
7	Sterchi Lofts		147	45	12	1926
8	Church Street United Methodist Church		141	43	2	1931

Buildings That Are No Longer Here

Knoxville has also seen some tall buildings come down. For example, the smokestack from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's steam plant was once one of the city's tallest structures. It was built in 1966 and stood 300 feet tall, which was even taller than the Sunsphere!

This smokestack was part of a plant that used coal for power. In 2014, the plant started changing to use natural gas instead. This meant the tall smokestack was no longer needed and was taken down. The demolition process finished in January 2016. You can even find videos online that show the whole process in fast motion!

Planned Tall Buildings That Weren't Built

Sometimes, really tall buildings are planned for Knoxville, but for different reasons, they don't end up getting built. Here's a short list of some of those projects that were planned to be over 15 stories tall but were later canceled.