Seattle has (ca. 2005) at least 3 examples of the typical species over 80' tall. One that used to be in the north part of Vashon Island was figured to be 90-something feet, before it disappeared.

A 'Glauca' in NE Seattle was more than 74' tall around the same time.

Nice find Sam...had no idea Silverton had one that size.I
remember reading that the'China Fir' is typically harvested as a lumber product in its native range and regrows from
suckers .I did saw a 25' one several years ago as it was
not looking well,full of browned-out foliage and pretty ugly for a garden specimen.It has happily regenerated into a
multi-leadered good looking 12' shrub.Doug

They tend to open up and show brown dead junk in this region, as do juvenile foliage forms of Sawara cypress. I think it is probably the summer dryness (and maybe nutrient deficiencies) of many planting sites here, when I saw China firs near habitations in the cloud forest around Volcano, Hawaii the trees were much denser and darker.

My neighbor has one about that size, but it has multiple trunks. It went through several hurricanes with no damage at all.

Bboy, it's reassuring they even have this problem in the PNW. Your dry summers generally doesn't cause as many so-called problems with Asian plants as we'd expect them to. Ian Barclay has talked about how plants like rhododendron, Pieris, and Kalmia - planted in the right places and perhaps not in the driest PNW microclimates - can just "coast" from the last rains in May to the first in Sept.

At any rate, this one, and Botann's beautiful pond side specimen, are counter examples. Likewise on the east coast there's a minority of them that look good, but many are ratty. I think our recent string of hot dry summers has put more into the latter category. This one, in Arlington, VA, used to be much better looking.
{{gwi:676500}}

There's at least one monster in UC Berkeley's Botanical Garden, as I recall. I remember coming home and relocating mine after seeing the size of it!

Sara

There's a bigleaf hydrangea in my neighborhood located in full sun that never gets watered, as far as I know. However, if you look at the soil around it it is cement-like Alderwood Till that probably goes for much or most of the summer without drying completely out. And the specimen is not nearly as lush and fast-growing as it would be with watering etc., the cultivar is a quite large-growing one yet this example has remained small after many years in place.

Same with all the unwatered rhododendrons etc, around, if they are an easy-to-grow type and the soil etc. happen to be conducive they can often lump it, but are not necessarily thriving and giving of their best in each instance. Often there is gauntness that would not be there with consistent irrigation, although with rhododendrons and related plants (salal, leucothoe...) nowadays there is also the foliage mildew problem affecting the appearance and behavior of the leaves.

I see gaps and visible dead foliage in the first Cunninghamia shown here. The ones located in Hawaii were quite different in aspect, at first I wasn't sure they were China fir.

"I see gaps and visible dead foliage in the first Cunninghamia shown here."
Agreed; it's not as bad as some of them though. This one doesn't seem to like Kew: http://davisla.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/plant-of-the-week-cunninghamia-lanceolata/

Botann's was definitely the best I've seen post here but the picture vanished in the webshots changeover.

Might be the sandiness that is probably there, as elsewhere in the area. Other conifers in the collection not particularly big and full either.

I took another picture of one of mine. It's kinda dark. I'll take another picture when the sun comes out. That might be awhile given our winter climate.
The dead growth seen on most Cunninghamias is very brittle and comes loose in a good breeze. Mine is located in an open area, therefore the dead growth doesn't last long. There are times when there is a lot of it visible in the tree. I do pick a lot of it off the ground at the base of the tree. They can be quite messy.
That bottle of Icehouse is for you Ken. ;-)

Well, here it is, several days later and the sun still hasn't come out.
About half of the 20 I have lost their top due to the ice storm last year.
Mike