Built by the State of Maryland to spur redevelopment of the Inner Harbor, the World Trade Center is a pentagonal concrete and glass tower twenty-eight stories high that originally housed the Maryland Port Administration. The tower is elevated on concrete piers that straddle the promenade along the water’s edge, with one pier emerging from the Inner Harbor itself. The slim tower added a vertical element to the new Baltimore skyline, similar to the USF&G Building. Long ribbons of windows and a public observation deck on the twenty-seventh floor provide panoramic views of the harbor.