# Most/deepest publically accessible underground floors in a building? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 16, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985 "2012-02-16T00:57:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/1 "2012-02-16T00:57:24Z")
Where can I find the deepest (or, if not strictly the deepest, notably deep) publicly-accessible floor space, in terms of raw depth under ground level or number of basements? Sea level is not immediately relevant to this question, as it relates to the ground level of the area where the building is. If the building is on the side of a mountain or hill, make a judgment call as to whether or not it is in scope. I know that there is a publicly accessible complex underneath the National Mall in DC that includes the S. Dillon Ripley center and a few other buildings, and I believe that goes down to at least the 3rd Basement (B3), and there are several exhibits at that level. I’m considering space other than standalone subway stations, but I will count subway stations that are IN a basement or sub-basement of a building in the sense that the station platform could be said to be IN the building itself in one of it’s basements and accessible from the rest of the building without going outside rather than buried below the foundation. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/2 "2012-02-16T01:07:08Z")
The Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago also has three basement levels. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/3 "2012-02-16T01:09:43Z")
The Civil Engineering building at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis was built below ground to save energy, and extends down seven stories and seventy feet below ground level. I’m sure there’s many deeper buildings, but that’s the deepest one I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/4 "2012-02-16T01:29:19Z")
There’s a parking garage at the University of San Francisco Medical Center built into the side of a steep hill. The ground floor on one side of the building is several or eight floors below the ground floor on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/5 "2012-02-16T08:22:14Z")
The [World Tower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tower) in Sydney apparently has 10 basement levels. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/6 "2012-02-16T17:53:26Z")
I’m not sure if this meets the criteria of “publicly accessible”, but the Kansas City SubTropolis is an immense underground storage facility. > **[SubTropolis, U.S.A.](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/05/subtropolis-usa/308033/)** > > A large chunk of Kansas City’s real estate lies 100 feet below ground, and offers a creative solution to global warming. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/7 "2012-02-16T18:10:15Z")
[Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago](http://mansueto.lib.uchicago.edu/numbers.html) deserves a mention as being in this category. Other than a glass dome over the top, it is entirely underground (55ft.). However, it most of the volume is simply used by a robotic retrieval system storing 3.5 M volumes. So it isn’t foot accessible, but it is publicly accessible 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/8 "2012-02-16T18:15:02Z")
> [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](#): > > There’s a parking garage at the University of San Francisco Medical Center built into the side of a steep hill. The ground floor on one side of the building is several or eight floors below the ground floor on the other side. This also happens at Columbia University where some buildings on the campus side are entered on the “ground floor” of 6 from the campus side but exited on the ground floor of 1 or -1 for the street access. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/9 "2012-02-16T18:43:29Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > If the building is on the side of a mountain or hill, make a judgment call as to whether or not it is in scope. This may or may not fit your qualifications, but the [Diefenbunker](http://www.diefenbunker.ca/en_index.shtml), outside Ottawa, is 100,000 square feet over four levels of reinforced concrete under a small, one-story building. Fascinating tour. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/10 "2012-02-16T18:46:07Z")
Tons and tons of university libraries that used to have closed stacks are mostly underground. The Thomas Cooper library at the University of South Carolina is IIRC 7 floors down, which is rare here as the water table is very high. ---
**Author:** ![spikebrennan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@spikebrennan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spikebrennan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/11 "2012-02-16T20:18:33Z")
Other candidates: The bunker under the Greenbrier Hotel > **[Washington Park station (TriMet)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Park_(MAX_station))** > > Washington Park is a light rail station in Portland, Oregon, United States, served by TriMet as part of the MAX Light Rail system. Situated between Sunset Transit Center and Goose Hollow/Southwest Jefferson Street station, it is the 17th and 3rd station eastbound on the Blue Line and the Red Line, respectively. The station's two tracks and island platform are part of the Robertson Tunnel beneath Portland's West Hills. Its head house and surface-level plaza occupy the middle of a parking lot surro... > **[Seikan Tunnel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikan_Tunnel)** > > The Seikan Tunnel (Japanese: 青函トンネル, Seikan Tonneru or 青函隧道, Seikan Zuidō) is a 53.85 km (33.46 mi) dual-gauge railway tunnel in Japan, with a 23.3 km (14.5 mi) portion under the seabed of the Tsugaru Strait, which separates Aomori Prefecture on the main Japanese island of Honshu from the northern island of Hokkaido. The track level is about 100 m (330 ft) below the seabed and 240 m (790 ft) below sea level. The tunnel is part of the standard-gauge Hokkaido Shinkansen and the narrow-gauge Kaik [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_Engineering_Building_Minnesota_6.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Civil_Engineering_Building_Minnesota_6.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/12 "2012-02-16T21:30:43Z")
Hampstead station on the London Underground is 58.5 metres (192ft), under street level. ETA: Never mind. Didn’t read the OP carefully enough. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/13 "2012-02-17T02:00:25Z")
I guess this wouldn’t qualify according to the OP’s final paragraph, but I once did a tour of a gold mine in South Africa. This started in a building that housed a large elevator in which we descended 600 ft. Apparently, some mines reach depths below 10,000’ - though I doubt many of these qualify as publicly accessible. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/14 "2012-02-17T02:20:02Z")
Lots of Park University in Missouri (including a fairly large library) is underground: [http://www.park.edu/Map\_To\_CDL\_with\_walkentrance.pdf](http://www.park.edu/Map_To_CDL_with_walkentrance.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Holt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@David\_Holt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Holt)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/15 "2014-07-16T03:35:58Z")
The question clearly asks about the building with the most accessible floors below groung, NOT about depths in metres, feet or anything else. Whilst I don’t know the answer for certain, I offer as a candidate, the Meriton Soleil Tower in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which has 10 below-ground floors (and, for those interested, 74 above ground). ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/16 "2014-07-16T03:45:17Z")
> [@David\_Holt](#): > > The question clearly asks about the building with the most accessible floors below groung, NOT about depths in metres, feet or anything else. Not true. The only question in the OP asks: “Where can I find the deepest (or, if not strictly the deepest, notably deep) publicly-accessible floor space, in terms of raw depth under ground level or number of basements?” which is pretty clearly asking for either number of basements or raw depth. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/17 "2014-07-16T04:12:45Z")
Vanderbilt University’s West Garage has three entrances on three different streets – two of them are to level G and one is down a roughly 10-foot hill to level S1 (for “sub-level” or “sub-basement” or “something”). Its bottom level is S8. However: (1) it’s employee parking, although that’s unenforced on weekends; and (2) it has freestanding walls on all four sides – it’s essentially a 12-story garage built in a deep hole. (I guess that makes ventilation easier?) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/18 "2014-07-16T14:19:24Z")
The recent [accident in the Moscow subway](http://news.yahoo.com/rescuers-fight-help-crash-victims-moscows-deepest-metro-151606520.html) took place 260 feet underground. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/19 "2014-07-16T16:07:41Z")
> [@David\_Holt](#): > > The question clearly asks about the building with the most accessible floors below groung, NOT about depths in metres, feet or anything else. > Whilst I don’t know the answer for certain, I offer as a candidate, the Meriton Soleil Tower in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia which has 10 below-ground floors (and, for those interested, 74 above ground). No, it clearly doesn’t, as already pointed out. Actually clearly, on the other hand, the question, and all answers previous to yours, were posted over two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kansas\_Beekeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kansas_Beekeeper)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985/20 "2014-07-16T16:15:38Z")
Not terribly deep, but large parts of Park University in Parkville Missouri are old underground limestone caverns. Even the library is underground. (At one time the school itself mined and sold limestone to support itself.) [http://www.park.edu/campus-maps/parkville-underground-map.html](http://www.park.edu/campus-maps/parkville-underground-map.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-deepest-publically-accessible-underground-floors-in-a-building/612985.md?page=2)