The William Donald Schaefer Building, also known as the William Donald Schaefer Tower or simply the Donald Schaefer Building, is a skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

 in Baltimore, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. The building rises 37 floors

Storey

A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...

 and 493 feet (150 m) in height, and stands as the third-tallest building in the city. If the flagpole atop the building, which reaches 690 feet, is included, the building would be the tallest in the state (flagpoles are normally not counted when determining architectural height). The nine upper floors are unoccupied and contain a spiral staircase to the top floor. The structure was completed in 1992.

The William Donald Schaefer Building was named after William Donald Schaefer

William Donald Schaefer

William Donald Schaefer was an American politician who served in public office for 50 years at both the state and local level in Maryland. A Democrat, he was mayor of Baltimore from 1971 to 1987, the 58th Governor of Maryland from January 21, 1987 to January 18, 1995, and the Comptroller of...

, who served as the mayor of Baltimore from 1971 until 1986. Schaefer later served as the Governor

Governor of Maryland

The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...

 of the state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Maryland from 1987 until 1995.

The building began its life as the "Merritt Tower" after the Merritt Commercial Savings and Loan. This savings and loan association

Savings and loan association

A savings and loan association , also known as a thrift, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans...

 went bankrupt after a run on its deposits in 1985 and was partially responsible for the collapse of the Maryland Savings-Share Insurance Corporation, a quasi-public nonprofit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 corporation which guaranteed deposits in state chartered banks and thrifts. The building was sold at auction for US$30 million. After a succession of owners, the Maryland Department of General Services purchased the building from Chemical Bank

Chemical Banking

Chemical Bank was a bank with headquarters in New York City from 1824 until 1996. The bank operated as the primary subsidiary of the Chemical Banking Corporation, a bank holding company established in 1988. At the end of 1995, Chemical was the third largest bank in the U.S...

of New York for US$12.2 million.