While improvement plans are in the works for the plaza of the John Hancock Center, the Chicago Tribune's Blair Kamin reports that the city's Department of Planning and Development is pushing to make the building a protected landmark, which would delay or halt the revamp plans.
Owners of commercial portions of the tower envision adding tall triangular prisms, glass walls, and video screens to the skyscraper's sunken plaza. The goal of the estimated $8 million to $10 million project would be to reestablish the Hancock Center as an attraction at the north end of the Magnificent Mile, in counter balance to Maggie Daley Park and Millennium Park a little over a mile south.
Landmark status, though, would give city officials the legal authority to control alterations to the exterior (and possibly parts of the interior) of the Hancock Center.
The building was opened in 1969, and while the National Park Service suggests that additions to the National Register of Historic Places be at least 50 years old, it's not an absolute rule. The 860-880 N. Lake Shore Drive apartments (designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe) achieved Chicago Landmark status in 1996 despite being open for only 45 years at the time.
The 100-story Hancock Center could follow Marina City’s lead. The complex with the corncob-shaped residential towers near the Chicago River was granted preliminary landmark status on July 9. The landmarks commission will consider a final proposal next year for Marina City, after which the City Council would vote on it.
Hancock Center is the fourth tallest building in Chicago, the seventh tallest in North America, and the 36th tallest in the world. If the tower does become an official landmark, it would be Chicago’s tallest protected structure.
Related Stories
High-rise Construction | Feb 6, 2017
Flexing their vanity muscles: Some of the world’s tallest buildings have hundreds of feet of non-occupiable space
The amount of the Burj Khalifa’s height that is non-occupiable is taller than most skyscrapers.
Green | Feb 3, 2017
Nanjing Green Towers will be Asia’s first vertical forest
The project will be covered in 1,100 trees and 2,500 cascading plants and shrubs.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Feb 2, 2017
$500 million investment will modernize Chicago’s Willis Tower *Updated*
The project will be the first major renovation in the building’s 43-year history.
High-rise Construction | Feb 1, 2017
Rippled tower from CORE will be first of 10-tower master plan in Mississauga, Ont.
The tower will become the tallest building in what is Canada’s 6th largest city.
High-rise Construction | Jan 31, 2017
Chicago’s West Loop to receive 500-foot apartment tower
The 44-story tower will provide 492 rental units and a retail podium.
High-rise Construction | Jan 27, 2017
Silverstein Properties waffles on what to do with Far West Side property
The company has gone from a two-tower design, to a supertall, and now, supposedly, back to a two-tower design.
High-rise Construction | Jan 26, 2017
Paris tower provides office space and three hotel complexes across its three superimposed volumes
Equipped with hanging gardens and a panoramic viewpoint for its top tier, Jardins de l’Arche Tower will rise in Paris’s La défense business district.
Architects | Jan 24, 2017
Politicians use architectural renderings in bid to sell Chicago’s Thompson Center
The renderings are meant to show the potential of the site located in the heart of the Chicago Loop.
High-rise Construction | Jan 23, 2017
Growth spurt: A record-breaking 128 buildings of 200 meters or taller were completed in 2016
This marks the third consecutive record-breaking year for building completions over 200 meters.
High-rise Construction | Jan 20, 2017
CTBUH’s tall building predictions for 2017
Woodscrapers, the automobile industry's expansion into the tall building development business, and Nairobi's climb toward becoming Africa's skyscraper hub are just a few of the topics CTBUH's 2017 tall building predictions report focuses on.
