John Hancock Center

The John Hancock Center is a very tall building located at 875 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It used to be called the John Hancock Center, but you may still hear people refer to it that way. This amazing structure has 100 stories and reaches a height of 1,128 feet (344 meters). When it was finished in 1968, it was the second-tallest building in the world, only shorter than the Empire State Building in New York City. Today, it is the fifth-tallest building in Chicago and the fourteenth-tallest in the United States.

Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan from the company Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the building stands in the Magnificent Mile district. Inside, there are offices, restaurants, and about 700 condominiums, making it the highest residence in the world when it was completed. Originally, the building was named after the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, which was one of its first tenants and was named for the famous U.S. Founding Father John Hancock.

One of the most popular spots in the building is the observatory called 360 Chicago, which offers stunning views of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Visitors can see up to four states and a distance of over 80 miles (130 km). The observatory has a special moving platform called TILT that lets guests lean over the edge of the skyscraper at a 30-degree angle. There is also a bar, an open-air SkyWalk, and interactive touchscreens in six different languages. On the 44th floor, there is a sky lobby that features the highest indoor swimming pool in the United States.

History

20th century

The project to build what would become the world's second tallest building was started by Jerry Wolman in late 1964. It was paid for by John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company. Building work stopped in 1967 because of a problem with how concrete was being poured. The builders noticed that the soil was moving too much even after just 20 floors were built, and they had to fix this before continuing. This caused money problems, and Jerry Wolman could not keep paying, so John Hancock took over the project.

The first person to live in the building was Ray Heckla, an engineer who worked on the building. He and his family moved in in April 1969, before the building was finished.

The 1988 movie Poltergeist III was filmed in the John Hancock Center in early 1987.

21st century

On December 10, 2006, the non-residential part of the building was sold by Shorenstein Properties for $385 million to a group of buyers including Golub & Company and the Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds. Shorenstein Properties had bought the building in 1998 for $220 million.

Golub could not pay back its loans, and in 2012, Deutsche Bank bought the building. Different parts of the building were sold to various buyers over the next few years. In May 2016, the company looking after the building said they wanted to sell the right to name the building.

Every year on the last Sunday in February, people race up the 94 floors of the building to help the Respiratory Health Association. The fastest time was 9 minutes and 30 seconds in 2007.

The building has transmitters for Univision's WGBO-DT. Other TV stations in Chicago broadcast from the Willis Tower.

On February 12, 2018, John Hancock Insurance asked to have its name removed from the building because they had not paid for naming rights since 2013. The building was then called by its address: 875 North Michigan Avenue.

The Signature Room restaurant on the 95th and 96th floors closed in September 2023 after saying they had big money problems because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2024, the company that runs the observation deck bought those two floors. They plan to expand the observation deck into the space that used to be the restaurant.

Incidents

On November 11, 1981, Dan Goodwin climbed the outside of the building to show that it was hard to rescue people from very tall buildings. He wore special climbing gear and climbed the building's side. The Chicago Fire Department tried to stop him, but the mayor let him finish.

On December 18, 1997, comedian Chris Farley was found in his apartment on the 60th floor.

On March 9, 2002, strong wind blew a scaffold off the building. It fell 43 stories and damaged cars and the building itself.

On November 21, 2015, a fire started in an apartment on the 50th floor. The Chicago Fire Department put it out, and five people had small injuries.

On February 11, 2018, there was a fire in a car on the seventh floor.

On November 16, 2018, a cable on an elevator broke. Reports said the elevator with six people inside came down from the 95th floor to the 11th floor, but the firefighters were able to get everyone out safely. No one was hurt.

On January 5, 2022, a piece of outside wall fell from the building.

Architecture

One of the most famous buildings with a unique style, the skyscraper has a special X-shaped support on its outside. This support helps keep the building strong during wind and earthquakes, and it also makes the inside spaces open and nice. These special features have made the building very famous. It was designed by the engineer Fazlur Khan and the architect Bruce Graham.

The inside of the building was updated in 1995, adding nice stone surfaces to the lobby. Outside, there is a pretty plaza with plants and a tall waterfall. At night, bright white lights on top of the building light up Chicago, and they change colors for special events, like green and red for Christmas. The building has won many awards for its special style and was chosen as one of the great places in Illinois.

Interior spaces

44th floor sky lobby

The 44th floor is where the building changes from offices below to homes above. This floor is called the sky lobby.

Swimming pool

On the 44th floor, there is a swimming pool for residents. The pool area has very tall ceilings. This pool is the highest in the United States when you measure how far up it is from the ground.

Resident/office tenant grocery store

Also on the 44th floor, there is a grocery store only for people who live in the building or work in the offices. It is about 5,200 square feet. A local chain called Potash runs the store.

Upper floors

Express elevators

The elevators that go to the top three public floors are very fast. Made by Otis, they can travel 96 floors at up to 1,800 feet per minute. They could reach the 95th floor in just 38 seconds if they went that fast the whole way.

360 Chicago Observation Deck

On the 94th floor is the 360 Chicago Observation Deck. It is 1,030 feet above the street. You can enter from the concourse level on the Michigan Avenue side of the building. Since 2014, it has been owned and run by a company from Paris, France, called Magnicity. The observation deck has more space than another nearby deck at the Willis Tower. It includes a cocktail lounge called CloudBar. In 2014, they added an attraction called TILT. TILT has big windows that slowly tilt out to a 30-degree angle. There is also an open-air area with mesh wire screens instead of glass.

For a few years in the 2010s, during winter, the observation deck had an artificial ice rink that was said to be the world's highest skating rink. It once had a mascot named Seemore Miles.

Former 95th floor restaurant and 96th floor cocktail lounge

The building used to have a restaurant on the 95th floor and a cocktail lounge on the 96th floor. The original restaurant, called The 95th, operated from the 1970s until 1993. From 1993 to 2023, the 95th floor had a restaurant called the Signature Room, and the 96th floor had a cocktail lounge called the Signature Lounge. The restaurant stopped operating in September 2023.

Parking garage

The building has a parking garage in some of its lower levels. Cars enter and leave using a spiral ramp.

Other features

The John Hancock Center has a special outdoor plaza along Michigan Avenue. This plaza has shops and places to eat. The top part of the plaza is at the same level as the street, and the lower part is below the street.

The building also has tall towers on top for antennas. These towers hold equipment for many TV and radio stations. Over time, the towers have been changed to use bright lights instead of paint to make them easy to see.