This building, known as the Medical Treatment and Care Building (in the Olive View Hospital complex) was completed in 1970 at a cost of $25 million. The four towers containing the stairs and day-room areas were built to be structurally separated four inches from the main building. The three towers that failed were supported by concrete columns. When these columns failed, the towers overturned. Note that the base of the tower in this photo has fallen in the basement. After the shock, the building leaned as much as two feet in a northerly direction with nearly all of this drift in the first story. Note also the broken columns on the first floor. The first story nearly collapsed, and the building was ultimately demolished. The structure was located in a band that incurred heavy damage during the 1971 earthquake.

Image Credit: E.V. Leyendecker. U.S. Geological Survey