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The Sears Tower Seen From Adams St

The Sears Tower seen from Adams St and Des Plaines St just as the Sun sets right behind me.

The costs of the Sears Tower…

…were financed entirely by Sears, Roebuck and Co. (approximately $175 million which in 2005 would have meant $950 million).

Dan Goodwin climbed both…

…the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center in 1981.

View Of The Downtown From The Dan Ryan Expressway

View of Chicago’s Skyline from the Dan Ryan Expressway sometimes last summer. You can easily spot the Sears Tower and 311 S Wacker (right next to it). See? Traffic is good at something: taking pictures

There are 104…

…elevators in the Sears Tower.

Sears Seen From Lake Shore Dr

The Sears Tower seen from Lake Shore Dr. Also visible the Buckingham Fountain, CNA Center (the red looking building) and 311 S Wacker.

A total of…

…74,000 tons of steel were used for the construction of the Sears Tower.

Roosevelt Rd View Of The Sears Tower

The Sears Tower seen from Roosevelt Rd. The building next to it is 311 S Wacker (this is the actual name of building; it’s quite common for buildings in Chicago to have their street address as their official name).

The exact address of the Sears Tower is…

…233 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606

Approaching The Circle

Approaching The Circle (I90/94 and I294 interchange) on the Dan Ryan. You can see a bit of Chicago’s Skyline (including the lower part of the Sears Tower).

AON Center Facts

- the exact address of the center is 200 E Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60601;

- it has 83 floors and a height of 1,136 feet (346 m);

- the center was completed in 1973; at that time its name was Standard Oil Building and it belonged to the Standard Oil Company of Indiana later known as AMOCO and now part of BP;

- at the time of completion it was the tallest building in Chicago, surpassed a year later by the Sears Tower and in 2008 by the Trump Tower;

- also, when completed it was the world’s tallest marble-clad building (covered by 43,000 slabs of marble – Italian Carrara);

- when the Standard Oil Company of Indiana changed its name to AMOCO in 1985, the center was renamed the Amoco Building;

- The Blackstone Group bought it in 1998 and changed its name to AON Center in 1999; however, the AON Corporation would become the building’s primary tenant only in 2001;

- due to the fact that the marble used to sheath the building was thinner than what was previously used in the industry, in 1974, just a year after completion, one of the slabs detached and penetrated the roof of the nearby Prudential Center; from 1990 till 1992 the entire building was refaced at an estimated cost of over $80 million (well over half of the original cost of the entire building).

A Closeup Of The Sears Tower

Simply a close look at The Sears Tower.

Counted by standard methods, Sears has…

…108 stories. Its owners though, count the main roof as the 109th story and the mechanical penthouse as the 110th.

Chase Tower Facts

- it is a 60 story skyscraper finished in 1969;
- the exact address of the building is 10 S Dearborn St, Chicago, IL 60603;
- the building was previously known as Bank One Tower; the name changed after Bank One’s merger with JP Morgan Chase on October 25th, 2005
- together with its plaza, Chase Tower occupies the entire block bounded by S Clark St, S Dearborn St, W Madison St and W Monroe St;
- if you look carefully you can spot the “CHASE” sign on top of the building in “The Dark Knight” when Batman is shown standing on top of Sears Tower.

Chicago Skyline (2)

Chicago’s Skyline seen from the Museum Campus at sunset. You can very easily spot Hancock Center and the AON Center. What’s missing is the Sears Tower.

Trump Tower will be the second…

…tallest building in Chicago, after the Sears Tower replacing the AON building which has held the title for quite a while.

Lamp Post On Adams St

Lamp post on Adams St on the North-West corner with La Salle St. The building you can spot on the left of the picture is the Sears Tower.

Chicago Skyline (1)

The Southern part of the Chicago Skyline (seen from Lake Michigan on a cloudy/rainy day). You can easily notice the Sears Tower and the AON Center.

The Sears Tower Entrance On Wacker Dr

The Sears Tower entrance on Wacker Dr.

Construction on the Sears Tower started in…

…August 1970 and less than three years later (on May 3, 1973) the originally anticipated maximum height was reached.