875 North Michigan Avenue, built as and still commonly referred to as the John Hancock Center, is a 100-story, 1,128-foot[6] supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, its name was changed to 875 North Michigan Avenue on February 12, 2018.
A storey or story is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people. The plurals are "storeys" and "stories", respectively.
A skyscraper is a continuously habitable high-rise building that has over 40 floors and is taller than approximately 150 m (492 ft). Historically, the term first referred to buildings with 10 to 20 floors in the 1880s. The definition shifted with advancing construction technology during the 20th century. Skyscrapers may host commercial offices or residential space, or both. For buildings above a height of 300 m (984 ft), the term "supertall" can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m (1,969 ft) are classified as "megatall".
Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the most populous city in Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States. As of the 2017 census-estimate, it has a population of 2,716,450, which makes it the most populous city in the Midwestern United States. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, the second most populous county in the United States, and the principal city of the Chicago metropolitan area, which is often referred to as "Chicagoland." The Chicago metropolitan area, at nearly 10 million people, is the third-largest in the United States, the fourth largest in North America, and the third largest metropolitan area in the world by land area.
Bruce John Graham was a Colombian-American architect. Among his most notable buildings are the Inland Steel Building, the Willis Tower, and the John Hancock Center. He worked with Fazlur Khan on all three constructions.
The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and thus also in the state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.
One World Trade Center is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. One WTC is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. The building is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east.
From the 95th floor restaurant, diners can look out at Chicago and Lake Michigan. The Observatory (360 Chicago),[11] which competes with the Willis Tower's Skydeck, has a 360° view of the city, up to four states, and a distance of over 80 miles (130km). The Observatory has Chicago's only open-air SkyWalk and also features a free multimedia tour in six languages.[12] The 44th-floor sky lobby features America's highest indoor swimming pool.[13]
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. The other four Great Lakes are shared by the U.S. and Canada. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the wide Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are technically a single lake.
A sky lobby is an intermediate interchange floor where people can change from an express elevator that stops only at the sky lobby to a local elevator which stops at every floor within a segment of the building. When designing very tall (supertall) buildings, supplying enough elevators is a problem – travellers wanting to reach a specific higher floor may conceivably have to stop at a very large number of other floors on the way up to let other passengers off and on. This increases travel time, and indirectly requires many more elevator shafts to still allow acceptable travel times – thus reducing effective floor space on each floor for all levels. The other main technique to increase usage without adding more elevator shafts is double-deck elevators.
History
The project, which would become the world's second tallest building at opening, was conceived and owned by Jerry Wolman in late 1964. The project was financed by John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. Construction of the tower was interrupted in 1967 due to a flaw in an innovative engineering method used to pour concrete in stages, that was discovered when the building was 20 stories high.[14] The engineers were getting the same soil settlements for the 20 stories that had been built as what they had expected for the entire 99 stories. This forced the owner to stop development until the engineering problem could be resolved, resulting in a credit crunch. The situation is similar to the one faced during the construction of 111 West Wacker, then known as the Waterview Tower. Wolman's bankruptcy resulted in John Hancock taking over the project, which retained the original design, architect, engineer, and main contractor.
Jerry Wolman was an American, Washington, D.C. developer and owner of the Philadelphia Eagles football team of the National Football League.
The building's first resident was Ray Heckla, the original building engineer, responsible for the residential floors from 44 to 92. Heckla moved his family in April 1969, before the building was completed.
On November 11, 1981, Veterans Day, high-rise firefighting and rescue advocate Dan Goodwin, for the purpose of calling attention to the inability to rescue people trapped in the upper floors of skyscrapers, successfully climbed the building's exterior wall. Wearing a wetsuit and using a climbing device that enabled him to ascend the I-beams on the building's side, Goodwin battled repeated attempts by the Chicago Fire Department to knock him off. Fire Commissioner William Blair ordered Chicago firemen to stop Goodwin by directing a fully engaged fire hose at him and by blasting fire axes through nearby glass from the inside. Fearing for Goodwin's life, Mayor Jane Byrne intervened and allowed him to continue to the top.[15][16]
Daniel "Dan" Goodwin is an American climber best known for performing gymnastic-like flag maneuvers and one arm fly offs while free soloing difficult rock climbs on national TV and for scaling towering skyscrapers, including the Sears Tower, the John Hancock Center, the World Trade Center, the CN Tower, and the Telefónica Building in Santiago, Chile.
The Chicago Fire Department (CFD) provides both fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. The Chicago Fire Department is the third largest municipal fire department in the United States after the New York City Fire Department and Cal Fire, as measured by sworn personnel. It is also one of the oldest major organized fire departments in the nation.
Jane Margaret Byrne was an American politician who served as the 40th Mayor of Chicago from April 16, 1979, until April 29, 1983. Byrne won the Chicago mayoral election on April 3, 1979, becoming the first female mayor of Chicago, the second largest city in the United States at the time. She was also the first woman to be elected mayor of a major city in the United States. Prior to her tenure as mayor, Byrne served as Chicago's commissioner of consumer sales from 1969 until 1977, the only woman to be a part of Mayor Richard J. Daley's cabinet.
The John Hancock Center was featured in the 1988 movie Poltergeist III.
Poltergeist III is a 1988 American supernatural horror film and is the third and final entry in the original Poltergeist film series. Writers Michael Grais and Mark Victor, who wrote the screenplays for the first two films, did not return for this second sequel; it was co-written, executive produced, and directed by Gary Sherman, and was released on June 10, 1988 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was panned by critics, and was a box office disappointment.
On December 18, 1997, comedian Chris Farley was found dead in his apartment on the 60th floor of the building.[17][18]
On March 9, 2002, part of a scaffold fell 43 stories after being torn loose by wind gusts around 60mph (100km/h) crushing several cars, killing three people in two of them. The remaining part of the stage swung back-and-forth in the gusts repeatedly slamming against the building, damaging cladding panels, breaking windows, and sending pieces onto the street below.
On December 10, 2006, the non-residential portion of the building was sold by San Francisco based Shorenstein Properties LLC for $385 million and was purchased by a joint venture of Chicago-based Golub & Company and the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds.[19] Shorenstein had bought the building in 1998 for $220 million.
Golub defaulted on its debt and the building was acquired in 2012 by Deutsche Bank AG who subsequently carved up the building.[20] The venture of Deutsche Bank AG and New York-based NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. paid an estimated $325 million for debt on 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2012 after Shorenstein defaulted on $400 million in loans.[21] The observation deck was sold to Paris-based Montparnasse 56 Group for $35 million and $45 in July 2012.[22] That same month, Prudential Real Estate Investors acquired the retail and restaurant space for almost $142 million.[23] In November 2012, Boston-based American Tower Corp affiliate paid $70 million for the antennas.[24] In June 2013, a venture of Chicago-based real estate investment firm Hearn Co., New York-based investment firm Mount Kellett Capital Management L.P. and San Antonio-based developer Lynd Co. closed on the expected acquisition of 875 North Michigan Avenue's 856,000 square feet of office space and 710-car parking deck. The Chicago firm did not disclose a price, but sources said it was about $145 million.[21] This was the last step in that piecemeal sale process.[21] In May 2016, Hearn Co. announced that they were seeking buyers for the naming rights with possible signage rights for the building.[25]
Hustle up the Hancock is an annual stair climb race up the 94 floors from the Michigan Avenue level to the observation deck. It is held on the last Sunday of February. The climb benefits Respiratory Health Association. The record time as of 2007 is 9 minutes 30 seconds.
The building is currently home to the transmitter of Univision's WGBO-DT (channel 66), while all other full-power television stations in Chicago broadcast from Willis Tower. The City Colleges of Chicago's WYCC (channel 20) transmitted from the building until November 2017, when it departed the air as part of the 2016 FCC spectrum auction, and will eventually return as a part of WTTW's spectrum from Willis Tower.
On November 21, 2015, a fire broke out in an apartment on the 50th floor of the building. The Chicago Fire Department was able to extinguish the fire after an hour and a half; five people suffered minor injuries.[26]
On February 11, 2018, a fire in a car on the seventh floor required approximately 150 firefighters to extinguish.[27]
On February 12, 2018, John Hancock Insurance requested that its name and logos throughout the building’s interior be removed immediately; John Hancock had not had a naming-rights deal with the skyscraper's owners since 2013. The building's name was subsequently changed to 875 North Michigan Avenue.[28][10]
On November 16, 2018, an express elevator cable broke, sending an elevator with six passengers on an 84-story plunge from the 95th to 11th floor. A team of firefighters had to break through a brick wall from the parking garage to extricate the passengers, none of whom suffered injuries. Elevators to the 95th/96th floor were closed thereafter pending investigation.[29]
One of the most famous buildings of the structural expressionist style, the skyscraper's distinctive X-braced exterior shows that the structure's skin is part of its "tubular system". This is one of the engineering techniques which the designers used to achieve a record height; the tubular system is the structure that keeps the building upright during wind and earthquake loads. This X-bracing allows for both higher performance from tall structures and the ability to open up the inside floorplan. Such original features have allowed 875 North Michigan Avenue to become an architectural icon. It was pioneered by Bangladeshi-American structural civil engineer Fazlur Khan and chief architect Bruce Graham.
The interior was remodeled in 1995, adding to the lobby travertine, black granite, and textured limestone surfaces. The elliptical-shaped plaza outside the building serves as a public oasis with seasonal plantings and a 12-foot (3.7m) waterfall. A band of white lights at the top of the building is visible all over Chicago at night, and changes colors for different events. For example, at Christmas time the colors are green and red. When a Chicago-area sports team goes far in the playoffs, the colors are changed to match that team's colors.
The building is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers. It has won various awards for its distinctive style, including the Distinguished Architects Twenty-five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects in May 1999.[30] In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the John Hancock Center was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places [31] by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component (AIA Illinois) and was recognized by USA Today Travel magazine, as one of AIA Illinois' selections for Illinois 25 Must See Places.[32]
The building is only partially protected by a fire sprinkler system,[33] as the residential floors do not have sprinklers.[34]
Including two antennas, the tower has a height of 1,499 feet (457m), making it the thirty-third tallest building in the world when measured to pinnacle height. The Observatory elevators of 875 North Michigan Avenue, manufactured by Otis, travel 96 floors at a top speed of 1,800ft/min (20mph; 9.1m/s). It has been said the elevators to the observation deck are the fastest in North America, reaching from ground floor to the 95th floor at a top speed of 38 seconds.[35] The fact about the speed record is also mentioned in the voice announcement recording which is played every time the elevator is going up from ground floor to observation deck.
360° Chicago
Located on the 94th floor, 360° Chicago is 875 North Michigan Avenue's observatory. The floor of the observatory is 1,030 feet (310m) off of street-level below. The entrance can be found on the concourse level of 875 North Michigan Avenue and is mainly accessible from the Michigan Avenue side of the building. The observatory, previously called the John Hancock Observatory, has been independently owned and operated since 2014 by the Montparnasse 56 Group out of Paris, France.[36] The elevators are credited to be the fastest in the Western Hemisphere, at a top speed of 1,800ft/min (20.5mph).[37] The observatory boasts larger floor space than its direct competitor, Skydeck at the Willis Tower. In addition, 360° Chicago has a cafe by Lavazza Coffee which stocks alcoholic beverages as well.[38] In the summer of 2014, 360° Chicago added its TILT attraction. The TILT platform is an additional fee, and is a series of floor to ceiling windows that slowly tilt outside the building to 30°.[39] The platform is on the observatory level, and faces south over the city. This observatory sees less attendance than the Skydeck at the Willis Tower, leading to a quieter and quicker experience.
The Signature Room
Separate from its observatory, 875 North Michigan Avenue has a restaurant on its 95th floor named the Signature Room ®, with an accompanying bar on the 96th floor called the Signature Lounge.[40]
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and completed in 1931, the building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of New York, which is of unknown origin. As of 2019 the building is the 5th-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 28th-tallest in the world. It is also the 6th-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years until the completion of the World Trade Center's North Tower in Lower Manhattan in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, it was again the tallest building in New York until the new One World Trade Center was completed in April 2012.
The Willis Tower, built as and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-story, 1,450-foot (442.1 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At completion in 1973, it surpassed the World Trade Center in New York to become the tallest building in the world, a title it held for nearly 25 years; it remained the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere until the completion of a new building at the rebuilt World Trade Center site in 2014. The building is considered a seminal achievement for architect Fazlur Rahman Khan. The Willis Tower is currently the second-tallest building in the United States and the Western hemisphere – and the 16th-tallest in the world. More than one million people visit its observation deck each year, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations. The structure was renamed in 2009 by the Willis Group as a term of its lease.
The Aon Center is a modern supertall skyscraper in the Chicago Loop, Chicago, Illinois, United States, designed by architect firms Edward Durell Stone and The Perkins and Will partnership, and completed in 1974 as the Standard Oil Building. With 83 floors and a height of 1,136 feet (346 m), it is the third tallest building in Chicago, surpassed in height by the Willis Tower, and the Trump International Hotel and Tower.
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile. It was built to house the corporate headquarters of the Wrigley Company.
The Franklin Center is a 60-story supertall skyscraper completed in 1989 as the AT&T Corporate Center to consolidate the central region headquarters of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). It stands at a height of 1,007 ft (307 m) and contains 1,700,000 sq ft (160,000 m2) in the Loop neighborhood of downtown Chicago. It is located two blocks east of the Chicago River and northeast of the Willis Tower with a main address of 227 West Monroe Street and an alternate address of 100 South Franklin Street. in the Loop community area of downtown Chicago.
Streeterville is a neighborhood in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, north of the Chicago River. It is bounded by the river on the south, the Magnificent Mile portion of Michigan Avenue on the west, and Lake Michigan on the north and east, according to most sources, although the City of Chicago only recognizes a small portion of this region as Streeterville. Thus, it can be described as the Magnificent Mile plus all land east of it. The majority of the land in this neighborhood is reclaimed sandbar.
Water Tower Place is a large urban, mixed-use development comprising a 758,000 sq ft (70,400 m2) shopping mall and 74 story skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The mall is located at 835 North Michigan Avenue, along the Magnificent Mile. It is named after the nearby Chicago Water Tower, and is owned by affiliates of Brookfield Property Partners.
The buildings and architecture of Chicago have influenced and reflected the history of American architecture. The built environment of Chicago is reflective of the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles by many important architects. Since most structures within the downtown area were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 Chicago buildings are noted for their originality rather than their antiquity.
The Mile High Illinois, Illinois Sky-City, or simply The Illinois was a proposed skyscraper that is over 1 mile (1,600 m) high, conceived and described by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his 1957 book, A Testament. The design, intended to be built in Chicago, included 528 stories, with a gross area of 18,460,000 square feet (1,715,000 m2). Wright stated that there would have been parking for 15,000 cars and 100 helicopters.
One Magnificent Mile is a mixed-use high-rise tower completed in 1983 at the northern end of Michigan Avenue on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago containing upscale retailers on the ground floor, followed by office space above that and luxury condominium apartments on top. The 57-storey building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and at the time of construction was the tenth-tallest building in Chicago.
Bitexco Financial Tower is a skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. At its completion in 2010, it became the tallest building in Vietnam and kept this status until January 2011, when it was surpassed by Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower. With 68 floors above ground and three basements, the building has a height of 262.5 metres (861 ft), making it the second tallest building in the city, fifth tallest in Vietnam, and the 263rd tallest in the world, as of the beginning of 2018.
Wilshire Grand Center is a 1,100-foot (335.3 m) skyscraper in the Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It is the tallest building in Los Angeles, the tallest building in California, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River and outside of New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and the 11th tallest building in the United States. Its height surpasses the U.S. Bank Tower by 82 ft (25 m). The building is part of a mixed-use hotel, retail, observation decks, shopping mall, and office complex, expected to revitalize downtown Los Angeles and the area surrounding the building. The development of the complex is estimated to cost $1.2 billion. The plans include 67,000 square feet (6,225 m2) of retail, 677,000 square feet (62,895 m2) of Class A office space and 900 hotel rooms. InterContinental is the tower's hotel component, comprising 900 rooms and suites.
1000M is a skyscraper planned for Chicago, Illinois in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District portion of Michigan Avenue in the Loop community area of Chicago. Designed by Helmut Jahn, it is planned as a 74-story, 832-foot (253.6 m) tall residential condominium tower located at 1000 South Michigan Avenue that is being developed by Time Equities, Inc., JK Equities and Oak Capitals. The 323-unit building will include one to four bedroom luxury condominiums. While there is not yet a scheduled ground breaking date, 1000M is on track to be completed in 2021.
John Hancock Center usually refers to a skyscraper in Chicago at 875 North Michigan Avenue. It may also refer to:
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