| 401 North Michigan | |
|---|---|
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 Interactive map of 401 North Michigan | |
| Alternative names | Equitable Building |
| General information | |
| Location | Chicago,Illinois,US[1] |
| Coordinates | 41°53′23″N87°37′23″W / 41.889601°N 87.622977°W /41.889601; -87.622977 |
| Completed | 1963–1965[1] |
| Height | 457 feet (139 m)[1][2] |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 35 total[1] |
| Floor area | 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill[4] |
| References | |
| [3] | |
401 North Michigan is a 35-story skyscraper in theStreeterville area ofChicago, built in 1965 at 401 North Michigan Avenue, along the north bank of theChicago River. It was designed byBruce Graham andNatalie de Blois in theinternational style. Along with theTribune Tower andWrigley Building, it forms the southern gateway to Chicago's famousMagnificent Mile. The building was built atop the site of a cabin belonging to Chicago's first permanent resident,Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable. In reference to du Sable, the large plaza adjacent to the building has been namedPioneer Court.
401 North Michigan occupies a site with several aspects of historical significance, both on a local and national scale. The site was originally settled by du Sable around 1779, and operated as a personal residence and fur-trading post, forming the very beginnings of the city of Chicago. In 1803,Fort Dearborn was built by the United States government immediately across the river, helping to protect the growing trading post from local Native American tribes. One year later in 1804,John Kinzie bought du Sable's property and occupied it until his death in 1828. In 1849,Cyrus McCormick moved to Chicago to set up a factory for his invention, the horse-drawnreaper, and purchased several lots on the former du Sable/Kinzie property, eventually developing a large factory complex. After this factory burned in theGreat Chicago Fire in 1871, McCormick moved his factory to theWest Side. Even as Michigan Avenue was slowly rebuilt into the city's premier street beginning in the 1920s, the site remained industrial in usage, and by 1961, it had become a parking lot.[5]
In 1961, theEquitable Life Assurance Society of the United States announced its intention to construct a new, modern office tower at the 401 North Michigan site, relocating its sizable Chicago offices from cramped space at29 South LaSalle Street. The announcement described the proposed 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) tower as a "glittering structure of metal, marble, and glass set amid a picturesque plaza."[6] Construction began in 1963 and concluded in 1965.
In addition to Equitable, one of the largest tenants of the building—occupying 12 floors—was theInternational Harvester Company (nowNavistar International Corporation), the descendant of Cyrus McCormick's original reaper works, which intended to "return to its birthplace."[7]
The box-shaped building, designed byBruce Graham andNatalie de Blois ofSkidmore, Owings, and Merrill, was designed in theInternational Style with large columns and spandrel beams expressed on each facade and covered in anodized aluminum, complemented by large windows on all four sides of the building. As in many office towers, a core containing stairs, elevators, and bathrooms lies at the center.
At the urging of theChicago Tribune, Graham designed the building with a 175-foot (53 m) setback from Michigan Avenue, to avoid blocking views of the Chicago River from the Tribune'snearby building. A large plaza created by this setback was namedPioneer Court, envisioned by both Equitable and the Tribune as a monumental civic space in Chicago honoring various civic founders, including du Sable and Kinzie. The plaza is at the elevated level of Michigan Avenue, and would be paved in granite, with trees and a large reflecting pond. Underneath the building and plaza were to be commercial spaces and parking, as well as an existing single-track railroad line leading toNavy Pier. Along the river edge, Graham designed a curvilinear promenade for a riverfront restaurant with a helical staircase down from the plaza above.
Equitable itself, no longer maintains offices in the building, which is currently marketed as 401 North Michigan. It remains a successful office tower. In 2003,NBC 5 Chicago opened a street-level studio at the lobby level of the Equitable Building, becoming the first Chicago television station to open such a studio, and starting a trend.ABC 7 Chicago andCBS 2 would open their own street-level studios several years later in other downtown locations.
In 2017 the riverfront restaurant and helical staircase were replaced by a new flagship store forApple, also with the address 401 N Michigan Ave, and designed by the London-based architecture firmFoster + Partners.[8]
Pioneer Court, often mistakenly called "Pioneer Plaza", is largely the great civic space imagined at the time of its construction. Since it was built, it has hosted numerous art installations, performances, civic events, advertising events, and festivals. It has also been featured in several films and television advertisements. In 1992, Pioneer Court was redesigned and extended eastward around the office tower byCooper, Robertson & Partners in a vaguelyPostmodernist style, in conjunction with the massiveCityfront Center development just to the east.