VenTech Tower is a skyscraper that was located in New York City. It is the headquarters of Venture Techno Industries on The Venture Bros. During Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, it is ejected from New York by Mantilla to the original location of The Venture Compound.
History
Col. Lloyd Venture Millinery & Automata Co. Building
VenTech Tower was originally known as the Col. Lloyd Venture Millinery & Automata Co. Building, and it still bears a plaque with that title at the main entrance. Under Colonel Lloyd Venture's stewardship it was the site of The Great Venture Millinery Fire of 1907, a deadly blaze that began in the attic when a dumpster full of felt straps was struck by a zeppelin.
Venture Industries World Headquarters
During Jonas Venture Sr.'s lifetime the building was Venture Industries World Headquarters. During this part of its history the tower resembled the Pan Am Building from the 1960s.[1]
One Impossible Plaza
Sometime after the death of Jonas Venture Sr. the tower passed to Professor Richard Impossible, who converted it into One Impossible Plaza, the New York headquarters for Impossible Industries.[2]
Following his divorce from Sally Impossible, Richard Impossible became an unhinged recluse and his business fell into disrepair. During this time period the building served as the headquarters for The Revenge Society, which Richard Impossible had joined after Phantom Limb reached out to him.[3]
The building caught fire in Bright Lights, Dean City, prompting The Revenge Society to move their base of operations to The Monarch's childhood mansion in Newark (which they subsequently abandoned for Meteor Majeure.)
VenTech Tower
After Professor Impossible and The Revenge Society left, Jonas Venture Jr. took ownership of One Impossible Plaza and transformed it into VenTech Tower, making it his terrestrial base of operations for Venture Techno Industries. He restored the original factory facade on the first floor and the plaque reading "Col. Lloyd Venture Millinery & Automata Co. Building." Occupants at this time included JJ, Sally Impossible, Cody, Ned, and The Pirate Captain.
Following Jonas Venture Jr.'s heroic death in All This and Gargantua-2, the Tower and its contents passed to his brother Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture. Current occupants include Rusty Venture, Brock Samson, Hank Venture, H.E.L.P.eR., Sergeant Hatred, and The Pirate Captain. Employees include Billy Whalen and Pete White.
Dean Venture initially lived in the VenTech Tower following his family's relocation from Colorado to New York, but moved out to live in the on-campus dormitories at Stuyvesant University after being accepted as a student there. JBot served the family before H.E.L.P.eR. pushed him off the tower. Sergeant Hatred mans the front desk as security while Brock has his own room.
Throughout Season 6, the VenTech tower sustained major damage from multiple attacks from the many villains looking to arch Venture. Wide Whale in particular blasted a massive hole in the front lobby when he attacked the building. The hole is where Haranguetan fell to his death, and his wife Battleaxe and Think Tank also fell in, but survived.
In Season 7, his penthouse began to have problems, as he believed it was hackers, while his family and Brock thought it was possessed. With the help of Dr. Orpheus and The Order of the Triad, the Problem machine that had been on his father's Gargantua-1 space station that JJ had recovered and installed in the building was revealed to have the disembodied head of his father Jonas Venture Sr.. Rusty was shocked to learn that his father was really alive and just in a comatose state. After Pete White had attacked the machine, Jonas began to destroy the building. During Arrears in Science, Rusty begged his father to not destroy the building. After he was calmed by The Blue Morpho, who appeared seeking Jonas. Rusty had learned the truth about the Problem Machine and Jonas through Team Venture and was angry at not being told the whole time. Rusty spoke to his father for the first time in twenty years through his wrist watch and the latter wanted him to clone a new body for him after he takes Vendata's body as a temporary substitute to which Rusty refused. Rusty and the Monarch were launched in the air by Jonas who was fighting the The Blue Morpho and witnessed the Jonas and the Morpho destroy each other. Effectively watching his father die for the second time.
After that incident, between repairing the building from the damage Jonas caused it, its falling stock price and lack of investor confidence due to the fact that Rusty had not invented or had done anything useful, VenTech was facing financial ruin. After Rusty had invented a teleportation device, The Guild sent a team to sneak into the building to steal it, successfully doing so. They then used the teleportation device to kidnap Venture and send their forces to attack the building and Brock.
In Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart, the building is sent into outer space by Mantilla through her remote controlling the Helper Pods to act as gravitational devices. When Dr. Mrs. Monarch convinces Mantilla to turn off the Helper Pods, the VenTech begins to rapidly fall back to Earth, acting as a meteor like projectile threatening to cause major damage to the surface. General Hunter Gathers threatens to destroy the building, but Rusty using Ventronic and with help from the Hover-Quarters, manage to safely bring it down right over the old Venture Compound.
Location and Facilities
VenTech Tower employs a Security and Support Staff (including Sergeant Hatred and The Pirate Captain). The Tower features a residential area for Dr. Venture and his family that includes an aircraft landing pad and a rooftop patio with swimming pool. The building also houses Research & Development facilities, a reception area, conference rooms, and a spacious lobby featuring a Venture family history museum.
At least one full floor of the building is occupied by a Dummy Corp serving as a front for the O.S.I., as revealed by the episode The Unicorn in Captivity.
VenTech Tower is located across the street from Tophet Tower, the headquarters of the villain Wide Wale. Occupants of the two buildings can easily see each other though binoculars, telescopes, or other observational devices.
VenTech Tower Directory
- Lobby and Mezzanine: Museum of Ingenuity
- Level 2-12: Dept. Finance and Accounting
- Level 13-20: Research and Development
- Level 21-24: Aeronautics
- Level 25-31: Space Tech and Beyond
- Level 32-35: Skunk Works
- Level 36-41: Bio Tech
- Level 42-46: Artificial Intelligence
- Level 47-50: Reactor Research
- Level 51-53: Penthouse
Former Names
- Col. Lloyd Venture Millinery & Automata Co. Building (owner: Colonel Lloyd Venture)
- Venture Industries World Headquarters (owner: Jonas Venture Sr.)
- One Impossible Plaza (owner: Professor Impossible)
Episode Appearances
Season 2
- Twenty Years to Midnight (as One Impossible Plaza)
Season 4
- Pomp and Circuitry (as One Impossible Plaza)
- Bright Lights, Dean City (as One Impossible Plaza)
Season 6
- Hostile Makeover
- Maybe No Go
- Faking Miracles
- Rapacity in Blue
- Tanks for Nuthin'
- It Happening One Night
- A Party For Tarzan
- Red Means Stop
Season 7
- The Venture Bros. & The Curse of the Haunted Problem
- The Rorqual Affair
- Arrears in Science
- The High Cost of Loathing
- The Bellicose Proxy
- The Unicorn in Captivity
- The Terminus Mandate
- The Forecast Manufacturer
- The Saphrax Protocol
Cultural References
- The VenTech Tower building is located on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City.
- Tophet Tower, which sits directly across Columbus Circle, occupies the same location as the real life Trump International Hotel and Tower.
- When it was still One Impossible Plaza, the building was a parody of Four Freedoms Plaza, the New York City headquarters of Marvel Comics' superhero team The Fantastic Four.
- The design of the VenTech Tower is based on The Hearst Tower near Columbus Circle in New York City.
- The six-story base of the Hearst Tower was commissioned by William Randolph Hearst and awarded to the architect Joseph Urban. The restored base of the Col. Lloyd Venture Millinery & Automata Co. Building at the bottom of the modern VenTech Tower is a reference to this.
- The tower portion of the skyscraper, atop the six story base, was designed by the architect Norman Foster, structurally engineered by WSP Cantor Seinuk, and constructed by Turner Construction.
- Completed in 2006, the Hearst Tower was the first skyscraper to break ground in New York City after September 11, 2001.
- VenTech Tower is patterned after the design aesthetic of British architect Norman Foster.
- When the tower was Venture Industries World Headquarters under Jonas Venture Sr. it resembled the Pan Am Building from the 1960s.[1]
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
- The Great Venture Millinery Fire of 1907, which took place at VenTech Tower when it was still the Col. Lloyd Venture Millinery & Automata Co. Building, is a parody of the real life Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911, the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of New York City.
Trivia
- The PROBLEM device containing the head of Jonas Venture Sr. was housed in the lobby of VenTech Tower following its recovery by Jonas Venture Jr. from the wreckage of Gargantua-1.[4] It is no longer there as of the events of Arrears in Science.