John Hancock Center: Chicago Skyscraper Building

John Hancock Center, Chicago Tower Building, Architect, Project, Height, Skyscraper Design, Date

John Hancock Center Chicago : Skyscraper Building

Key High-Rise Architecture Development in Chicago – design by SOM Architects

John Hancock Center

Location: 875 North Michigan Avenue, Gold Coast, Chicago, Illinois
Dates built: 1969/70
Design: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill – SOM: Bruce Graham (architect) with Fazhur R. Khan (engineer)

John Hancock Center Chicago Tower
photo : Royce Douglas

John Hancock Center Chicago

Height: 100 storeys

Building height: 1,127ft / 344m high
Building height including antennae: 1,506ft / 459m high

Nickname: Big John

Design: Fazlur Khan (structural engineer), Skidmore, Owings and Merrill

The tower is the fourth tallest building in Chicago at the time of writing.

Key elements of the tower design:
Hancock Observatory – observation deck on 94th floor at 1,020ft
Restaurant on the 95th floor
Building typologies: offices ; restaurants ; condominiums

Tallest building in the world outside Manhattan when completed

Highest apartments in the world

The building contains America’s fastest elevators, travelling to the building’s
“Observatory” on the 94th floor.

Instead of taking the elevator, visitors can also take the stairway from the main lobby to
the “Observatory”. It has a total of 1,632 steps.

Developer: John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company

SOM, Architects, IL

Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA

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Another Chicago skyscraper by SOM:
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Design: Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) Architects
777 W. Chicago Avenue building
image : Solomon Cordwell Buenz Architects
777 W. Chicago Avenue Building

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Restoration Architects: Harboe Architects
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photo : Tom Rossiter
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Design: Goettsch Partners (GP)
150 North Riverside building structure design
image courtesy of Chicago Athenaeum
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Comments / photos for the John Hancock Center Chicago Architecture page welcome

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