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List of tallest buildings in Chicago

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List of tallest buildings in Chicago
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Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States, with a metropolitan area of over 9 million people. It is home to over 1,250 completed high-rises,[5][6] 57 of which stand taller than 600 feet (183 m). As the birthplace of the skyscraper,[7][8] Chicago has always played a prominent role in their development, and its skyline spans the full history of skyscraper construction. The tallest building in the city is the 110-story Willis Tower (also known as the Sears Tower), which rises 1,451 feet (442 m) in the Chicago Loop and was completed in 1974.[9][10] Of the fifteen tallest buildings in the United States, five are in Chicago. Chicago's skyline is the second largest in the United States, in North America, and in the Western Hemisphere, after New York City.

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A plethora of towers in downtown Chicago, looking northeast towards Lake Michigan
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Skyscrapers overlooking Millennium Park and Grant Park in 2022

The Home Insurance Building, completed in 1885, is regarded as the world's first skyscraper. This building used the steel-frame method, innovated in Chicago; it was originally built with 10 stories, and later expanded to 12, to a height of 180 feet (55 m), an enormous height for the 19th century.[11][12] Being the inventor of the skyscraper, Chicago went through a series of early high-rise construction booms that lasted from the 1880s to the mid-1930s, during which nine of the city's 100 tallest buildings were completed.[13] Chicago and New York City were the only cities in the world with large, high-rise skylines during the first half of the 20th century. Chicago then went through an even larger building boom that lasted from the early 1960s to the early 1990s, in which many notable commercial skyscrapers were built, such as the city's fourth-tallest building, the Aon Center, its fifth tallest, 875 North Michigan Avenue (also known as the John Hancock Center), and Willis Tower, which was the tallest building in the world upon its completion until 1993, and the tallest in the United States until 2013. For most of the 20th century until the 1990s, Chicago had the second largest skyline in the world.

A third boom began in the 2000s, which saw the completion of the city's second tallest building, the Trump International Hotel & Tower, and its third tallest, St Regis Chicago, the tallest structure designed by a woman. Chicago leads the nation in the twenty tallest women-designed towers in the world, thanks to contributions by Jeanne Gang and Natalie de Blois. The skyline has expanded into the South Loop with skyscrapers such as NEMA Chicago and One Museum Park, as well as westwards into the West Loop and Fulton Market areas. Wolf Point is home to a number of new developments such as Salesforce Tower Chicago. Other notable new skyscrapers include 110 North Wacker (2020), One Chicago Square (2022), and 1000M (2024). The tallest building under construction is 400 Lake Shore, built on the site of the cancelled Chicago Spire project; it scheduled to be completed by 2027.

The tallest buildings in Chicago are concentrated in the downtown areas of the Loop, Streeterville, River North, the South Loop, and the West Loop. Other high-rises extend north along the waterfront into North Side districts such as the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Uptown and Edgewater, bounded by Lake Michigan to the east. Some high-rises also extend south from downtown along the waterfront to South Side districts such as Kenwood, Hyde Park, and South Shore, ultimately forming a contiguous area of high-rises that is among the largest in the United States. Chicago's skyline is a cultural icon of the city, and has appeared in a variety of films and popular media.[14][15]

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History

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Number of buildingsYear03060901201501920194019601980200020202040Buildings taller than 492 ft (150 m)Buildings taller than 656 ft (200 m)Buildings taller than 984 ft (300 m) (Supertall skyscrapers)Growth of skyscrapers in Chicago by year

First skyscrapers

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The Home Insurance building is considered to be the world's first skyscraper.

Towards the second half of the 19th century, Chicago grew to become the second-largest city in the United States as a railroad and trading hub.[16] After the Great Chicago Fire destroyed the most wooden structures in the city in 1871,[17] Chicago was rebuilt on large plots of land in a grid network[18] and followed new city ordinances that prohibited wooden construction. These factors encouraged the construction of taller buildings in Chicago.[19] New technologies such as the development of the elevator and in heating, lighting, and ventilation made taller buildings more viable.[20][21]

The first skyscraper in the world is considered to be the 10-story Home Insurance Building, built in 1885, due to its use of structural steel in a metal frame design. The building was designed by William Le Baron Jenney, who had been trained as an engineer in France and was a leading architect in Chicago. The design was innovative, incorporating structural steel into the building's internal metal frame alongside the traditional wrought iron. This frame took the weight of the floors of the building, and in addition, helped to support the weight of the external walls, proving an important step towards creating the genuine non-structural curtain walls that became a feature of later skyscrapers.[22]

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The Masonic Temple building housed meeting rooms for the Freemasons on its upper floors.

These innovations caught on quickly in Chicago, as the city's earliest high-rises followed suit. Among the world's first high-rise boom occurred in Chicago from 1888 onwards,[23] and by 1893, Chicago had built 12 skyscrapers between 16 and 20 stories tall, tightly clustered in the center of the financial district.[24] These include the Tacoma Building, The Rookery, Monadnock Building, and the Rand McNally Building, which was the world's first all-steel framed skyscraper. Structural engineers specializing in the steel frame design began to establish practices in Chicago.[25]

One of the tallest buildings completed during this boom was the Masonic Temple, built by the Freemasons at a time when they were a fast-growing community in the city. The Freemasons competed with a local rival, the Odd Fellows, who intended to build a much higher skyscraper, 556 feet (169 m) tall, that would have been the tallest building in the world, which was never built.[26] Until the turn of the 20th century, Chicago led New York City in high-rise construction. It was not until 1895 when New York City would surpass Chicago in the height of its high-rises, with the American Surety Building. In 1892, owing to the oversupply of office space, Chicago limited the construction of high-rises to under 150 feet (46 meters).[27] By the 1890s, a distinct architectural style emerged from Chicago, named the Chicago school.[28] This style involved placing rich, ornate designs on the outside of skyscrapers at the ground level and simpler, plainer ornamentation on the upper levels, with strong vertical lines.[29]

1900s–1930s

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A postcard of the then newly built Civic Opera Building in 1929

Chicago's construction boom continued into the early 20th century, up until the mid-1910s when World War I began. The city's elevated train network opened by 1910, making it easier for more workers to come downtown.[30] By the end of the 1910s, Chicago had the second largest number of headquarters in the United States.[30] Local architectural firms such as Daniel H. Burnham and then Graham, Anderson, Probst & White continued to design skyscrapers in the Chicago style popularized in the previous decade.[31] The Masonic Temple Building was overtake in height by the Montgomery Ward Building in 1899. The building served as the headquarters for Montgomery Ward, the United States' oldest mail order firm.

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The Tribune Tower features a notable design inspired by neo-Gothic architecture

Following a pause in development during World War I, a larger construction boom took place in the 1920s until the early 1930s. Limited wartime construction created supply shortages in the city, and rent levels rose in response by around 100 percent between 1919 and 1924.[32] This level of potential profits encouraged an explosion of new building projects in the city.[33] The 1892 height limit was relaxed in 1920 to 260 feet (79 m), and in 1923, Chicago passed its first comprehensive zoning ordinance, permitting taller towers, but with more controls on overall volumes.[34]

One of the first new skyscrapers of this boom was the Wrigley Building, briefly Chicago's tallest building from 1922 to 1924. It was the first major office building north of the Chicago River. The Wrigley Building was surpassed by the Chicago Temple Building in 1924. Besides as an office, the Temple Building was also used as the congregation of the First United Methodist Church of Chicago. The Morrison Hotel became the tallest hotel building in the world when it was built in 1925. The tower is an expansion to the existing Morrison's hotel, and it was the first building outside of New York City to have over 40 stories. Significant additions include the Pittsfield Building (1927), the Carbide & Carbon Building (1928), and the Palmolive Building (1929), all incorporating architectural features of the Art Deco style. Another mixed-use building was the Civic Opera Building, which in addition to office space, housed a 3,563-seat opera house, which serves as the permanent home of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

While shorter than the aforementioned buildings, the Tribune Tower is one of this period's most famous skyscrapers. The tower emerged from a design competition held by the Tribune Company in 1922 to celebrate its 75th anniversary. The Tribune newspaper, one of the largest in the world at the time, used the competition to build a loyal following amongst its readership and generate free publicity.[35] The final design was decided by competition panel mainly made up of the company's appointees, who chose John Howells and Raymond Hood's design.[36] The resulting tower was a conservative Gothic design; controversy about the decision broke out almost immediately. Architect Louis Sullivan criticized the chosen design as being derivative of the Woolworth Tower.[37] Regardless of its critics, the Tribune received as many as 20,000 visitors to its observation gallery when it opened in 1925.[38] The unbuilt second-place entry in the competition, a more simplified stepped-back design by Eliel Saarinen, also proved highly influential.[38]

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The Chicago Board of Trade building remained Chicago's tallest for over 30 years

In 1930, the Chicago Board of Trade Building was completed, replacing an earlier high-rise designed by William W. Boyington as the site for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The skyscraper is known for its Art Deco architecture, sculptures, large-scale stone carving, and its large trading floors. The CBOT has operated in the building continuously since. In the same year, a notable high-rise, was opened; with 4 million square feet (372,000 m2) of floor space, the 25-story Merchandise Mart, wider than it was tall, was the largest building in the world by volume. Due to the Great Depression, the skyscraper boom came to an end in the early 1930s. The Home Insurance Building was demolished in 1931 to make way for the Field Building, which was completed in 1934; the Field Building is the last major building to be added before a hiatus in skyscraper construction over the next twenty years.

1940s–1950s

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Chicago's skyline in 1958, prominently showing the Prudential Building

After the completion of the Field Building, very few high-rises were built in Chicago until the mid-1950s, leaving its skyline mostly unchanged for two decades. The tallest building completed in the 1940s were the Promontory Apartments, the first skyscraper designed by famous German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was a cooperative housing tower in Hyde Park with an exposed skeleton. The building and its display at the Museum of Modern Art led Mies to be commissioned for the Seagram Building in New York City.[39]

In 1942, work finished at Cabrini–Green homes, a public housing project on the city's Near North Side. The project one of the first large-scale public housing projects in the United States, consisting of high-rise and mid-rise tower blocks. Extensions to the estate occurred in 1957 and 1962. Over the following decades, the development became associated with high-crime rates and building deterioration; "Cabrini–Green" became a metonym for problems associated with public housing in the United States.

The lull in skyscraper development was broken by the Prudential Building in 1955, which at a height of 601 feet (183 m) became the city's second tallest building. It was followed by the Inland Steel Building in 1958. The Inland Steel Building is seen as defining high-rises for the post-war era of modern architecture.[40]

1960s–1970s

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The circular features of the Marina Center towers

Skyscraper development would return fully in the 1960s, as Chicago entered a third, larger building boom that shaped its current skyline. The city more readily embraced residential skyscrapers compared to other American cities, and apartment towers spread north and south from the Loop along Lake Michigan. At the same time, Chicago was also experiencing white flight, which was leading to a decline of the city's population. To combat this, the Service Employees International Union, a union of building janitors and elevator operators, financed the construction of the 588 feet (179 m) Marina City complex, which was completed in 1964. The twin cylindrical skyscrapers of Marina City sit on the Chicago River, and are known for their unique design that resembles corncobs. The complex's apartments contain almost no interior right angles, with a circular hallway surrounding the elevator core.[41] An even taller residential building, Lake Point Tower, was built in 1968 at 645 feet (197 m) tall. Located adjacent to Navy Pier, it is the easternmost skyscraper in the downtown skyline, and was the tallest apartment building in the world at the time. The tower has a triangular core and three arms that form a 'Y'-shape. Two residential towers that surpassed 500 feet (152 m) were built far outside The Loop in the 1970s: Park Place Tower and Park Tower Condominiums.

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Chicago's skyline in 1970, dominated by the John Hancock Center

The Chicago Board of Trade Building would finally be overtaken in height by the modernist Chicago Civic Center in 1965, later renamed the Richard J. Daley Center by then-Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley. It is Chicago's main civic center; the 648 ft (198 m) tower houses offices and courtrooms for the Cook County Circuit Courts, Cook County State's Attorney and additional office space for the city government and Cook County. As building heights increased for Chicago's commercial developments, the title of the city's tallest building would be broken four more times from 1969 to 1974. The Morrison Hotel was demolished in 1965, making it the tallest building ever demolished at the time. In its place, One First National Plaza (now Chase Tower) was built in 1969, very briefly becoming Chicago's tallest building. Chase Tower is known for its distinctive curving shape and its vibrant public space, with a ceramic wall mural by Marc Chagall.[42]

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The Sears Tower under construction

Of Chicago's five tallest buildings, three were completed within a 5-year span between 1969 and 1974. The John Hancock Center (also known as 875 North Michigan Avenue), completed in 1969, was the first supertall skyscraper in Chicago, supplanting Chase Tower as the city's tallest building. The building is notable for its structural expressionist style, with a distinctive X-braced exterior. this tubular system was an innovation that allowed the John Hancock Center to achieve its record height of 1,127 feet (344 m). The taller of the building's two large antennas extends its height to 1,500 feet (457 m). The tube system in the John Hancock Center, and later in Sears Tower, was implemented by Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan. The Standard Oil Building, now the Aon Center, was completed in 1973 as the headquarters for the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, now Amoco. It was very slightly taller than the John Hancock Center, at 1,136 feet (346 m); its pinstripes and white marble-clad exterior on a rectangular profile was a prominent feature on the skyline, although the marble was replaced by granite in the early 1990s.[43]

Sears, a department store chain headquartered in Chicago, had grown to become the largest retailer in the world by the 1960s. Requiring more office space, the company decided against relocating to the suburbs, opting instead to build a new skyscraper on the western end of the Loop.[44][45] The new skyscraper was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with its planned height growing with Sears' growth projections.[46] Plans for what would become the Sears Tower were announced in 1970, and construction began in the same year. During construction, Sears Tower met lawsuits as Chicagoland residents and broadcasters raised concerns that the skyscraper could disrupt television broadcasts.[47][48] This led Sears to approve of installing an antenna atop the tower. The black glass-clad skyscraper uses a bundled tube structure, with nine square tubes that are set back at different heights. The Sears Tower was completed in 1974, not only becoming the tallest building in Chicago, but the tallest building in the United States, and the world, overtaking New York City's World Trade Center complex.

1980s–1990s

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Chicago's skyline in the 1990s
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The four lanterns on 900 North Michgan Avenue are its most distinguishable feature

A minor slowdown in skyscraper construction in Chicago occurred in the mid-1970s, affected by the 1973–1975 recession. The 1980s was a very productive decade for skyscrapers in Chicago. Postmodern architectural trends influenced the design of several new skyscrapers during this period, including two additional supertall skyscrapers completed near the end of the decade: the Franklin Center, and Two Prudential Plaza. Located directly northeast of the Sears Tower and completed in 1989, the Franklin Center was originally built as the AT&T Corporate Center, following the split of the AT&T monopoly. The building is clad in granite, which changes shade from a deep-red color, to rose-beige at the top. The building's setbacks and the Gothic detailing evokes images of skyscrapers built in the 1920s.[49] Two Prudential Plaza opened in 1990 to adjoin the Prudential Building–now renamed One Prudential Plaza–which had been built 38 years earlier. At the time of completion, Two Prudential was the world's tallest reinforced concrete building. Its distinctive shape features stacked chevron setbacks on the north and south sides and a pyramidal peak rotated 45 degrees.

Other notable postmodernist skyscrapers include One South Wacker (1982) and 900 North Michigan, a mixed-use tower containing a large, upscale shopping mall on the Magnificent Mile, built in 1989. The exterior of the tower is clad in limestone, although the building's most notable feature on the skyline are its four "lanterns" on the corners on top of the building.[50] Adjacent to the Sears Tower to the south, 311 South Wacker Drive was completed in 1990. The skyscraper's crown consists of a translucent cylinder surrounded by four smaller cylinders, which was inspired by the massing of the Tribune Tower. Modernist developments continued with Huron Plaza (1983), a residential tower that was the first in the Near North Side's Cathedral District, and the mixed-use Olympia Centre (1986), its pink cladding provided by Swedish granite. The Onterie Center (now Axis Apartments) is notable for its large 'X' formations; the building is considered the "final work" by Fazlur Rahman Khan, who died four years earlier in 1982 before the building's completion. In contrast, the NBC Tower, built in 1989, is in the Art Deco style, and bears a resemblance to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, NBC's global headquarters.

After 1992, there was be a halt in skyscraper completions for half a decade due to the early 1990s recession. Thus, the rest of the 1990s saw little change in the city's skyline, until One Superior Place was completed in 1999. In 1998, Sears Tower was surpassed as the world's tallest building by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The decision by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat that the Petronas Towers were taller than the Sears Tower was contentious, not least within Chicago itself. The Sears Tower was taller when measured by pinnacle height, due to its antennas, bringing the building to 1,729 feet (527.0 m), over 200 feet taller than the Petronas Towers' pinnacle height of 1,483 feet (451.9 m).[51][52] In the ensuing controversy, four categories of "tallest building" were created.

2000s–present

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Trump International Hotel and Tower under construction in 2008, overlooking the Mather Tower

The 2000s was a period of strong growth for Chicago's skyline. 31 skyscrapers taller than 492 feet (150 m) were completed between 2000 and 2009, the most out of any decade in the city's history. According to Crain's, the cumulative height of all tall buildings built during the decade added up to over 34,000 feet (10 km), driven by a buoyant real estate market.[53] Residential skyscrapers, though already present in significant numbers on the skyline, made up an increasing share of new completions, as downtown living became more desirable. Despite the city's population decline during the decade, population growth was healthy in the Loop, continuing a trend that began in the 1990s.[54] Notable residential buildings include Park Tower (2000), one of the world's tallest buildings to be clad with architectural precast concrete; One North Wacker (2001); Millennium Centre (2003) and 340 on the Park (2007).

In 2001, then real estate developer and current U.S. president Donald Trump announced plans for a skyscraper on the site of a seven-story building formerly occupied by the Chicago Sun-Times.[55] The initial height of the proposal was 1,500 feet (457.2 m), which would have made it the world's tallest building. Following the September 11 attacks, Trump reduced the planned height of the building, to reduce the risk of similar attacks,[56] although up until 2005, Trump had still aspired for a building taller than the Sears Tower, though this was rejected by Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley.[57][58] Construction on the Trump International Hotel and Tower began in 2005 and was completed in 2009, becoming the second-tallest building in Chicago and the building with the highest residence in the world, overtaking Chicago's own John Hancock Center. The skyscraper's design features three setbacks designed to provide visual continuity with the surrounding skyline.[59]

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The infamous hole from the abandoned Chicago Spire project

The Great Recession caused another slowdown in skyscraper construction after 2010, which lasted until the middle of the decade. This affected some developments such as the Waterview Tower, where work on a planned supertall skyscraper had begun in 2005. The project was abandoned in 2008, and resumed in 2011 after another developer bought the site. Now known as OneEleven, the building was finally completed in 2015 at a reduced height. Perhaps the most significant casualty of the recession was the Chicago Spire. Originally proposed in 2005, the megatall skyscraper, designed by Spanish architect-engineer Santiago Calatrava, would have been 2,000 feet (610 m) high with 150 floors. Construction began in 2007, but was stopped a year later, as the subprime mortgage crisis set in. This left an infamous "hole" where the building's foundation had been completed.

Sears had sold the Sears Tower in 1994 as part of a restructuring effort, but the building continued to be known officially under that name until 2009, when London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building and obtained naming rights for the building. On July, the building was renamed the Willis Tower. This change was met with considerable opposition, including from many Chicagoans, who continue to refer to the building as the Sears Tower today.[60][61][62] Willis Tower was dethroned in 2013 as the tallest building in the United States by New York City's One World Trade Center.

Studio Gang

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The undulating balconies of Aqua are inspired by limestone outcroppings

The second-tallest skyscraper built during the 2000s, Aqua, was completed in 2009. Designed by a team led by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects, the residential skyscraper is highly distinctive for its irregularly shaped concrete floor slabs, inspired by the striated limestone outcroppings that can are commonly found in the Great Lakes, which lend the facade an undulating, sculptural quality.[63] Aqua was awarded the Emporis Skyscraper Award as 2009 skyscraper of the year,[64] and was shortlisted in 2010 for the biennial International High-Rise Award.[65]

Aqua was the world's tallest building designed by a woman until the construction of the St. Regis Chicago, which Gang also designed. At 1,198 feet (365 m), the St. Regis Chicago is the city's third tallest building, and its newest supertall skyscraper. Similarly to Aqua, it features a curvilinear design as a defining feature of the building, consisting of three interconnected masses covered by six different shades of glass. The building was completed in 2020 amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic, delaying the opening of the hotel portion of the building until 2023.

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One Museum Park and NEMA Chicago (left), 1000M (center), and Essex on the Park (right) are the tallest buildings in South Loop, all built after 2009

South Loop and West Loop

South Loop has emerged as a new area for skyscrapers in the 21st century, particularly with the completion of the 726 feet (221 m) One Museum Park in 2009, making it the tallest building on the South Side. As development resumed in the 2010s, One Museum Park would be surrounded by Essex on the Park and the even taller NEMA Chicago. Built in 2019, NEMA Chicago's stacked square pays homage to the Willis Tower, and uses a similar "bundled tube" configuration. In 2024, 1000M was completed in the area, becoming the second tallest building on the South Side. The skyscraper features a "deliberate change in form" between the lower 19 floors, which complements the surrounding Historic Michigan Boulevard District, and the tower portion above.[66]

From the 2010s onward, the skyline has gradually expanded westwards into the Near West Side, mainly the West Loop area, which includes the Fulton Market District. 727 West Madison was completed there in 2018, the first building above 492 feet (150 m) in the area.[67] This was followed by The Row (900 West Randolph) even further west in 2023. More skyscrapers and high-rises are planned for the area,[68] the tallest of which is 725 W Randolph Street, which aims to be 665 feet (203 m) tall.[69]

Mega-developments

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The site of The 78, a rectangular plot west of downtown on the Chicago River

A number of large-scale redevelopments, or "mega-developments", have been proposed in Chicago in the early 21st century, each containing a number of high-rises, though none have yet to be fully realized. The 78 is a plot of land from Roosevelt Road south to 16th Street and Clark Street, along the Chicago River. Its name is a reference to the Chicago's 77 existing community areas. The site has been unoccupied since a railyard was demolished in the 1970s. Many plans have been proposed or discussed for this site; a recent iteration of the plans will involve the construction of a new baseball stadium for the Chicago White Sox;[70] another includes a proposal for a new soccer stadium for Chicago Fire FC.

Another mega-development, Lincoln Yards, would be located northwest of downtown, occupying more than 50 acres (20 ha) of land on both sides of the North Branch of the Chicago River. Plans included several towers and high-rises for apartments, condos, office, retail, and entertainment. Owing to financial issues, the proposal was shelved in 2025. A 31-acre (13 ha) portion of the land was transferred to JDL Development and Kayne Anderson Real Estate in 2025. The new developers have proposed a more modest project named Foundry Yards, containing fewer high-rises.[71]

Bronzeville Lakefront is a 48-acre (19 ha) development in Bronzeville that will include over 5,000 new residential units in several mid-rises and high-rises, 20% of which would be affordable units, alongside the rehabilitation of the Singer Pavilion, a new senior housing building, and a 40,000 square foot community center. Construction of the project began in 2023 and is scheduled to be complete in 2035.[72][73]

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Construction on the northern tower of 400 Lake Shore in 2025

The 1901 Project, in the Near West Side, will revitalize over 55 acres (22 ha) of parking lots around the United Center. The multi-phase project is being led by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, owner of the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks respectively. The masterplan is expected to be completed in 2040, delivering 9,463 residential units, 1,309 hotel rooms, 660,000 square feet of office space, 670,000 square feet of retail space.[74][75]

Future

Chicago's current tallest proposed building is the Tribune East Tower, to be built on the eastern side of the famed Tribune Tower; at 1,442 ft (440 m), it would overtake Trump International Hotel and Tower as the city's second-tallest building. Plans were approved in 2020, although no construction has begun. By the mid-2020s, Chicago had seen a considerable decrease in the rate of new skyscrapers being built. High construction costs and interest rates have sharply reduced the number of new condominium projects downtown.[76][77][78] By 2025, the only project taller than 400 feet (122 m) under construction is 400 Lake Shore, on the site of the failed Chicago Spire. The project's North Tower will reach a height of 875 ft (267 m). 400 Lake Shore will feature a staggering silhouette formed by outdoor terraces on its glass and stone exterior.[79]

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Cityscape

ThumbThe ColumbianSpertus InstituteChicago Board of TradeFranklin Center North TowerField BuildingCNA CenterMetropolitan TowerChase TowerSanta Fe BuildingLegacy TowerUnited BuildingKemper BuildingMichigan Plaza SouthTrump Tower ChicagoAon CenterAquaThe BuckinghamPark TowerThe TidesHarbor Point
The 2010 Chicago skyline as seen from the Adler Planetarium (Use cursor to identify buildings)
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Map of tallest buildings

Summarize
Perspective

This map shows the location of skyscrapers taller than 492 feet (150 m) in Chicago. With the exception of two residential towers, Park Place Tower and Park Tower Condominiums, all of them are located in Downtown Chicago. Each marker is colored by the decade of the skyscraper's completion.

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About OpenStreetMaps
Maps: terms of use
420m
458yds
137
136
135
134
133
132
131
130
129
128
127
126
126 200 South Wacker Drive
126 200 South Wacker Drive
125
125 120 North LaSalle
125 120 North LaSalle
124
124 10 South LaSalle
124 10 South LaSalle
123
123 One Superior Place
123 One Superior Place
122
122 400 East Ohio Street
122 400 East Ohio Street
121
121 Carbide & Carbon Building
121 Carbide & Carbon Building
120
119
119 321 North Clark
119 321 North Clark
117
117 LaSalle-Wacker Building
117 LaSalle-Wacker Building
116
115
115 Park Tower Condominiums*
115 Park Tower Condominiums*
114
113
112
112 401 East Ontario
112 401 East Ontario
111
111 425 South Financial Place
111 425 South Financial Place
110
110 191 North Wacker
110 191 North Wacker
109
109 151 North Franklin
109 151 North Franklin
108
108 The Columbian
108 The Columbian
107
107 10 South Wacker
107 10 South Wacker
106
106 30 South Wacker
106 30 South Wacker
105
105 Mathew Tower
105 Mathew Tower
104
104 Kemper Building
104 Kemper Building
103
102
102 35 East Wacker
102 35 East Wacker
101
101 River Plaza
101 River Plaza
100
99
99 Elysées Condominiums
99 Elysées Condominiums
98
98 One North LaSalle
98 One North LaSalle
97
97 Park Place Tower*
97 Park Place Tower*
96
96 The Pinnacle
96 The Pinnacle
95
95 Field Building
95 Field Building
94
94 The Franklin – South Tower
94 The Franklin – South Tower
93
92
91
91 One South Wacker
91 One South Wacker
90
90 Newberry Plaza
90 Newberry Plaza
89
89 Michigan Plaza South
89 Michigan Plaza South
88
88 30 North LaSalle
88 30 North LaSalle
87
87 Atwater Apartments
87 Atwater Apartments
86
86 Harbor Point
86 Harbor Point
85
85 Civic Opera House
85 Civic Opera House
84
84 North Harbor Tower
84 North Harbor Tower
83
83 The Parkshore
83 The Parkshore
82
82 Pittsfield Building
82 Pittsfield Building
81
81 Boeing International Headquarters
81 Boeing International Headquarters
80
80 Huron Plaza
80 Huron Plaza
79
78
78 Kluczynski Federal Building
78 Kluczynski Federal Building
77
77 Palmolive Building
77 Palmolive Building
76
76 Chicago Temple Building
76 Chicago Temple Building
75
75 Loews Hotel Tower
75 Loews Hotel Tower
74
74 Axis Apartments
74 Axis Apartments
73
73 One South Dearborn
73 One South Dearborn
72
72 190 South LaSalle Street
72 190 South LaSalle Street
71
71 One Chicago West Tower
71 One Chicago West Tower
70
70 The Fordham
70 The Fordham
69
69 Citadel Center
69 Citadel Center
68
68 North Pier Apartments
68 North Pier Apartments
67
67 Crain Communications Building
67 Crain Communications Building
66
66 Mid-Continental Plaza
66 Mid-Continental Plaza
65
65 Optima Signature
65 Optima Signature
64
64 Marina City II
64 Marina City II
63
63 Marina City I
63 Marina City I
62
62 Accenture Tower
62 Accenture Tower
61
61 The Clare
61 The Clare
60
60 1000 Lake Shore Plaza
60 1000 Lake Shore Plaza
59
59 The Grant
59 The Grant
58
58 200 West Madison
58 200 West Madison
57
57 Heller International Building
57 Heller International Building
56
56 333 South Wabash
56 333 South Wabash
55
55 One Prudential Plaza
55 One Prudential Plaza
54
54 Chicago Board of Trade Building
54 Chicago Board of Trade Building
53
53 Chicago Place
53 Chicago Place
52
52 Millennium Centre
52 Millennium Centre
51
51 Essex on the Park
51 Essex on the Park
50
50 353 North Clark
50 353 North Clark
49
49 NBC Tower
49 NBC Tower
48
48 OneEleven
48 OneEleven
47
47 The Heritage at Millennium Park
47 The Heritage at Millennium Park
46
46 Leo Burnett Building
46 Leo Burnett Building
45
45 155 North Wacker
45 155 North Wacker
44
44 Grand Plaza I
44 Grand Plaza I
43
43 River East Center
43 River East Center
42
42 Lake Point Tower
42 Lake Point Tower
41
41 55 East Erie Street
41 55 East Erie Street
40
40 Richard J. Daley Center
40 Richard J. Daley Center
39
39 One North Wacker
39 One North Wacker
38
38 Wolf Point East Tower
38 Wolf Point East Tower
37
37 77 West Wacker Drive
37 77 West Wacker Drive
36
36 340 on the Park
36 340 on the Park
35
35 One Magnificent Mile
35 One Magnificent Mile
34
34 71 South Wacker
34 71 South Wacker
33
33 181 West Madison Street
33 181 West Madison Street
32
32 111 South Wacker Drive
32 111 South Wacker Drive
31
31 Waldorf Astoria Chicago
31 Waldorf Astoria Chicago
30
30 330 North Wabash
30 330 North Wabash
29
29 150 North Riverside
29 150 North Riverside
28
28 One Museum Park
28 One Museum Park
27
27 BMO Tower
27 BMO Tower
26
26 Olympia Centre
26 Olympia Centre
25
25 River Point
25 River Point
24
24 Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower
24 Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower
23
23 Grant Thornton Tower
23 Grant Thornton Tower
22
22 Three First National Plaza
22 Three First National Plaza
21
21 300 North LaSalle
21 300 North LaSalle
20
20 1000M
20 1000M
19
19 110 North Wacker
19 110 North Wacker
18
18 The Legacy at Millennium Park
18 The Legacy at Millennium Park
17
17 Salesforce Tower Chicago
17 Salesforce Tower Chicago
16
16 One Bennett Park
16 One Bennett Park
15
15 Park Tower
15 Park Tower
14
14 Chase Tower
14 Chase Tower
13
13 Water Tower Place
13 Water Tower Place
12
12 Aqua
12 Aqua
11
11 900 North Michigan
11 900 North Michigan
10
10 NEMA Chicago
10 NEMA Chicago
9
9 311 South Wacker Drive
9 311 South Wacker Drive
8
8 One Chicago East Tower
8 One Chicago East Tower
7
7 Two Prudential Plaza
7 Two Prudential Plaza
6
6 Franklin Center
6 Franklin Center
5
5 875 North Michigan Avenue
5 875 North Michigan Avenue
4
4 Aon Center
4 Aon Center
3
3 St. Regis Chicago
3 St. Regis Chicago
2
2 Trump International Hotel and Tower
2 Trump International Hotel and Tower
1
1 Willis Tower
1 Willis Tower
Buildings taller than 492 ft (150 m) in Chicago. An asterisk (*) next to the building's name indicates it is located outside the map.
  •  1950s and before 
  •  1960s 
  •  1970s 
  •  1980s 
  •  1990s 
  •  2000s 
  •  2010s 
  •  2020s 
1
Willis Tower
2
Trump International Hotel and Tower
3
St. Regis Chicago
4
Aon Center
5
875 North Michigan Avenue
6
Franklin Center
7
Two Prudential Plaza
8
One Chicago East Tower
9
311 South Wacker Drive
10
NEMA Chicago
11
900 North Michigan
12
Aqua
13
Water Tower Place
14
Chase Tower
15
Park Tower
16
One Bennett Park
17
Salesforce Tower Chicago
18
The Legacy at Millennium Park
19
110 North Wacker
20
1000M
21
300 North LaSalle
22
Three First National Plaza
23
Grant Thornton Tower
24
Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower
25
River Point
26
Olympia Centre
27
BMO Tower
28
One Museum Park
29
150 North Riverside
30
330 North Wabash
31
Waldorf Astoria Chicago
32
111 South Wacker Drive
33
181 West Madison Street
34
71 South Wacker
35
One Magnificent Mile
36
340 on the Park
37
77 West Wacker Drive
38
Wolf Point East Tower
39
One North Wacker
40
Richard J. Daley Center
41
55 East Erie Street
42
Lake Point Tower
43
River East Center
44
Grand Plaza I
45
155 North Wacker
46
Leo Burnett Building
47
The Heritage at Millennium Park
48
OneEleven
49
NBC Tower
50
353 North Clark
51
Essex on the Park
52
Millennium Centre
53
Chicago Place
54
Chicago Board of Trade Building
55
One Prudential Plaza
56
333 South Wabash
57
Heller International Building
58
200 West Madison
59
The Grant
60
1000 Lake Shore Plaza
61
The Clare
62
Accenture Tower
63
Marina City I
64
Marina City II
65
Optima Signature
66
Mid-Continental Plaza
67
Crain Communications Building
68
North Pier Apartments
69
Citadel Center
70
The Fordham
71
One Chicago West Tower
72
190 South LaSalle Street
73
One South Dearborn
74
Axis Apartments
75
Loews Hotel Tower
76
Chicago Temple Building
77
Palmolive Building
78
Kluczynski Federal Building
79
Cirrus
80
Huron Plaza
81
Boeing International Headquarters
82
Pittsfield Building
83
The Parkshore
84
North Harbor Tower
85
Civic Opera House
86
Harbor Point
87
Atwater Apartments
88
30 North LaSalle
89
Michigan Plaza South
90
Newberry Plaza
91
One South Wacker
92
Park Millennium
93
AMLI River North
94
The Franklin – South Tower
95
Field Building
96
The Pinnacle
97
Park Place Tower*
98
One North LaSalle
99
Elysées Condominiums
100
465 North Park
101
River Plaza
102
35 East Wacker
103
Arrive Michigan Avenue
104
Kemper Building
105
Mathew Tower
106
30 South Wacker
107
10 South Wacker
108
The Columbian
109
151 North Franklin
110
191 North Wacker
111
425 South Financial Place
112
401 East Ontario
113
Millie on Michigan
114
The Streeter
115
Park Tower Condominiums*
116
600 North Lake Shore Drive (S)
117
LaSalle-Wacker Building
119
321 North Clark
120
215 West
121
Carbide & Carbon Building
122
400 East Ohio Street
123
One Superior Place
124
10 South LaSalle
125
120 North LaSalle
126
200 South Wacker Drive
127
The Tides at Lakeshore East
128
Parkview West
129
500 North Lake Shore Drive
130
727 West Madison
131
55 West Monroe
132
Ontario Place
133
The Row
134
50 East Chestnut Street
135
The Ritz-Carlton Residences
136
PNC Center
137
No. 9 Walton
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Tallest buildings

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Perspective

This list ranks completed Chicago skyscrapers that stand at least 492 feet (150 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This height includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. The "Year" column indicates the year of completion.

  Was the tallest building in Chicago upon completion
More information Rank, Name ...
  1. Height is an estimated minimum.

Tallest buildings by pinnacle height

This list ranks Chicago skyscrapers based on their pinnacle height, which includes radio masts and antennas. Standard architectural height measurement, which excludes antennas in building height, is included for comparative purposes. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed.

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Tallest buildings in Chicago by pinnacle height. (As of 2019)
More information Pinn.Rank, Std.Rank ...
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Tallest under construction or proposed

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Under construction

There are three buildings that are under construction in Chicago that are planned to rise at least 328 feet (100 m) including buildings whose construction is on-hold. A floor count of 30 stories is used as the cutoff for buildings whose heights have not yet been released by their developers. The "Year" category denotes when the building is expected to be completed.

More information Name, Height ft (m) ...

Proposed

This lists buildings that are approved or proposed for construction in Chicago and that are planned to rise at least 492 feet (150 m). A floor count of 50 stories is used as the cutoff for buildings whose heights have not yet been released by their developers. The "Year" category denotes when construction of the building is expected to begin. A dash "—" indicates information about the building's construction or floor count is unknown or not publicly available.

More information Name, Height ft (m) ...
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Tallest demolished

This table lists buildings in Chicago that were demolished or destroyed and at one time stood at least 492 feet (150 m) in height.

More information Name, Image ...
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Tallest unbuilt

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This lists buildings designed to rise at least 800 feet (244 m) that were approved for construction in Chicago but were cancelled prior to completion. This list does not include vision projects such as Gateway Tower or the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle that were never intended to be built, nor does it include projects that were not approved by the Chicago Plan Commission such as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Residence Tower.

More information Name, Height ft (m) ...
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Timeline of tallest buildings

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Notes

A. ^ This building was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, and replaced by the current cathedral of the same name in 1875.
B. ^ The clock tower on this building was removed in 1895, allowing a shorter building to become the tallest in the city.
C. ^ The Masonic Temple, built in 1892, became the tallest in Chicago three years later when the Board of Trade Building had its clock tower removed.
D. ^ This building is currently 282 feet (86 m) tall, following the removal of a pyramid top and sculpture.
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See also

References

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