Chicago is thethird-largest city in theUnited States, with ametropolitan 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 theskyscraper,[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-storyWillis Tower (also known as the Sears Tower), which rises 1,451 feet (442 m) in theChicago 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, inNorth America, and in theWestern Hemisphere, after New York City.
TheHome Insurance Building, completed in 1885, is regarded as the world's first skyscraper. This building used thesteel-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 andNew 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, theAon Center, its fifth tallest,875 North Michigan Avenue (originally 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.
Map all coordinates usingOpenStreetMapDownload coordinates asKML
The tallest buildings in Chicago are concentrated in the downtown areas of theLoop,Streeterville,River North, theSouth Loop, and theWest Loop. Other high-rises extend north along the waterfront intoNorth Side districts such as theGold Coast,Lincoln Park,Lakeview,Uptown andEdgewater, bounded byLake Michigan to the east. Some high-rises also extend south from downtown along the waterfront to South Side districts such asKenwood,Hyde Park, andSouth 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 andpopular media.[14][15]
Number of buildings by height in Chicago by the end of each year, including any demolished buildings. Click on the legend to toggle a specific height on or off. Viewchart definition.
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 theGreat Chicago Fire destroyed the most wooden structures in the city in 1871,[17] Chicago was rebuilt on large plots of land in agrid 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-storyHome Insurance Building, built in 1885, due to its use of structural steel in a metal frame design. The building was designed byWilliam Le Baron Jenney, who had been trained as an engineer in France and was a leading architect in Chicago. The design was innovative, incorporatingstructural 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-structuralcurtain walls that became a feature of later skyscrapers.[22]
The Masonic Temple building housed meeting rooms for theFreemasons 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 theTacoma Building,The Rookery,Monadnock Building, and theRand 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 theMasonic Temple, built by theFreemasons at a time when they were a fast-growing community in the city. The Freemasons competed with a local rival, theOdd 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 theAmerican 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 theChicago 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]
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 whenWorld War I began. The city'selevated 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 thenGraham, 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 theMontgomery Ward Building in 1899. The building served as the headquarters forMontgomery Ward, the United States' oldest mail order firm.
The Tribune Tower features a notable design inspired byneo-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 theWrigley Building, briefly Chicago's tallest building from 1922 to 1924. It was the first major office building north of theChicago River. The Wrigley Building was surpassed by theChicago 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. TheMorrison 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 thePittsfield Building (1927), theCarbide & Carbon Building (1928), and thePalmolive Building (1929), all incorporating architectural features of theArt Deco style. Another mixed-use building was theCivic Opera Building, which in addition to office space, housed a 3,563-seatopera house, which serves as the permanent home of theLyric Opera of Chicago.
While shorter than the aforementioned buildings, theTribune Tower is one of this period's most famous skyscrapers. The tower emerged from a designcompetition held by theTribune 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 choseJohn Howells andRaymond Hood's design.[36] The resulting tower was a conservative Gothic design; controversy about the decision broke out almost immediately. ArchitectLouis 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 unbuiltsecond-place entry in the competition, a more simplified stepped-back design byEliel Saarinen, also proved highly influential.[38]
The Chicago Board of Trade building remained Chicago's tallest for over 30 years
In 1930, theChicago Board of Trade Building was completed, replacing an earlier high-rise designed byWilliam W. Boyington as the site for theChicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The skyscraper is known for its Art Deco architecture, sculptures, large-scalestone carving, and its largetrading 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-storyMerchandise Mart, wider than it was tall, was the largest building in the world by volume. Due to theGreat Depression, the skyscraper boom came to an end in the early 1930s. The Home Insurance Building was demolished in 1931 to make way for theField 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.
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 thePromontory Apartments, the first skyscraper designed by famous German-American architectLudwig Mies van der Rohe. It was acooperative housing tower inHyde 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 atCabrini–Green homes, a public housing project on the city'sNear 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 ametonym for problems associated withpublic housing in the United States.
The lull in skyscraper development was broken bythe Prudential Building in 1955, which at a height of 601 feet (183 m) became the city's second tallest building. It was followed by theInland Steel Building in 1958. The Inland Steel Building is seen as defining high-rises for the post-war era of modern architecture.[40]
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 experiencingwhite flight, which was leading to a decline of the city's population. To combat this, theService 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 resemblescorncobs. 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 toNavy 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.
The Chicago Board of Trade Building would finally be overtaken in height by the modernistChicago Civic Center in 1965, later renamed the Richard J. Daley Center by then-Chicago mayorRichard J. Daley. It is Chicago's maincivic center; the 648 ft (198 m) tower houses offices and courtrooms for theCook 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 byMarc Chagall.[42]
The Sears Tower under construction
Of Chicago's five tallest buildings, three were completed within a 5-year span between 1969 and 1974.875 North Michigan Avenue, completed in 1969 as the John Hancock Center, was the firstsupertall skyscraper in Chicago, supplanting Chase Tower as the city's tallest building. The building has astructural expressionist style, with a distinctiveX-braced exterior. thistubular 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 byBangladeshi-American structural engineerFazlur Rahman Khan. The Standard Oil Building, later renamed theAon Center, was completed in 1973 as the headquarters for theStandard Oil Company of Indiana, which became 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 bySkidmore, Owings & Merrill, with its planned height growing with Sears' growth projections.[46] Plans for what would become theSears Tower were announced in 1970, and construction began in the same year. During construction, Sears Tower met lawsuits asChicagoland 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 abundled 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'sWorld Trade Center complex.
Chicago's skyline in the 1990sThe four lanterns on 900 North Michigan Avenue are its most distinctive feature
A minor slowdown in skyscraper construction in Chicago occurred in the mid-1970s, affected by the1973–1975 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: theFranklin Center, andTwo Prudential Plaza. Located directly northeast of the Sears Tower and completed in 1989, the Franklin Center was built as the AT&T Corporate Center, following thesplit 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 theGothic 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 postmodernist skyscrapers includeOne South Wacker (1982) and900 North Michigan, a mixed-use tower containing a large, upscale shopping mall on theMagnificent Mile, built in 1989. The exterior of the tower is clad inlimestone, although the building's most distinctive 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 withHuron Plaza (1983), a residential tower that was the first in theNear North Side's Cathedral District, and the mixed-useOlympia Centre (1986), its pink cladding provided bySwedish granite. The Onterie Center (Axis Apartments) has 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, theNBC Tower, built in 1989, is in theArt Deco style, and bears a resemblance to30 Rockefeller Plaza inNew York City, NBC's global headquarters.
After 1992, there was a halt in skyscraper completions for nearly a decade due to theearly 1990s recession. Thus, the rest of the 1990s saw little change in the city's skyline, untilOne Superior Place was completed in 1999. In 1998, Sears Tower was surpassed as the world's tallest building by thePetronas Towers inKuala Lumpur,Malaysia. The decision by theCouncil 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, fourcategories of "tallest building" were created.
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 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 includePark Tower (2000), one of the world's tallest buildings to be clad with architectural precast concrete;One North Wacker (2001);Millennium Centre (2003) and340 on the Park (2007).
In 2001, then real estate developer and later U.S. presidentDonald Trump announced plans for a skyscraper on the site of a seven-story building formerly occupied by theChicago 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 theSeptember 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 mayorRichard M. Daley.[57][58] Construction on theTrump 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]
The infamous hole from the abandoned Chicago Spire project
TheGreat Recession caused another slowdown in skyscraper construction after 2010, which lasted until the middle of the decade. This affected some developments such as theWaterview 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. Since known asOneEleven, the building was finally completed in 2015 at a reduced height. Perhaps the most significant casualty of the recession was theChicago Spire. Proposed in 2005, themegatall skyscraper, designed by Spanish architect-engineerSantiago Calatrava, would have been 2,000 feet (610 m) high with 150 floors. Construction began in 2007, but was stopped a year later, as thesubprime mortgage crisis set in. This left an infamous "hole" where the building's foundation had been completed.
Sears 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 brokerWillis 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'sOne World Trade Center.
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 byJeanne Gang ofStudio Gang Architects, the residential skyscraper is distinctive for its irregularly shaped concrete floor slabs, inspired by the striatedlimestone outcroppings that can are commonly found in theGreat Lakes, which lend the facade an undulating, sculptural quality.[63] Aqua was awarded theEmporis Skyscraper Award as 2009 skyscraper of the year,[64] and was shortlisted in 2010 for the biennialInternational High-Rise Award.[65]
Aqua was the world's tallest building designed by a woman until the construction of theSt. 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.
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 byEssex on the Park and the even tallerNEMA 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 surroundingHistoric Michigan Boulevard District, and the tower portion above.[66]
From the 2010s onward, the skyline has gradually expanded westwards into theNear West Side, mainly theWest Loop area, which includes theFulton 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]
The site ofThe 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 been 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 77existing 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 theChicago White Sox;[70] another includes a proposal for a new soccer stadium forChicago 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 theNorth 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 inBronzeville 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]
Construction on the northern tower of 400 Lake Shore in 2025
The 1901 Project, in theNear West Side, will revitalize over 55 acres (22 ha) of parking lots around theUnited Center. The multi-phase project is being led by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, owner of theChicago Bulls andChicago 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]
Chicago's tallest proposed building is theTribune 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 is400 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]
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 inDowntown Chicago. Each marker is colored by the decade of the skyscraper's completion.
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Buildings taller than 492 ft (150 m) in Chicago. An asterisk (*) next to the building's name indicates it is located outside the map.
This list ranks completed Chicago skyscrapers that stand at least 492 feet (150 m) tall, based on standard height measurement. This height includesspires and architectural details but does not include antennamasts. The "Year" column indicates the year of completion.
Was the tallest building in Chicago upon completion
Previously known as John Hancock Center;13th-tallest building in the United States; tallest building completed in the world in the 1960s; first building in the world outside ofNew York City to rise at least 1,000 feet (305 m). A mixed-use residential and office skyscraper.
Was the tallest building in Chicago before being surpassed by the Aon Center.[84]
Construction was temporarily halted in June 2020 due to funding issues and COVID-19 concerns; a revised design received city approval in June 2021 and construction resumed in December 2021. Topped out in July 2023.[115][116][117][118][119]
The building was originally built in 1997 at 33 stories and a height of 411 feet (125.3 m). In 2010, 21 floors were added in a vertical expansion, along with 3 below ground floors.[126][127][128]
Marina City was the first building in the United States to be constructed with the Linden climbing tower cranes. It was also the first post-war urban high-rise residential complex in the United States. The two towers were both the tallest residential and tallest concrete structures in the world upon completion in 1968.[203][204][205]
Marina City was the first building in the United States to be constructed with the Linden climbing tower cranes. It was also the first post-war urban high-rise residential complex in the United States. The two towers were both the tallest residential and tallest concrete structures in the world upon completion in 1968.[206][207][208]
Most of the 45-story building is office space. The lower floors house a performance space that is the second-largest opera auditorium in North America, after theMetropolitan Opera House.[243]
In June 2018, 151 North Franklin became the new corporate headquarters for CNA Insurance, which has been headquartered in the Chicago Loop since 1900. CNA Insurance was previously located at 333 South Wabash.[269]
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.
Tallest buildings in Chicago by pinnacle height. (As of 2019)
There are three buildings that are under construction in Chicago that are planned to rise at least 492 feet (150 m) including buildings whose construction is on-hold. 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 the building is expected to be completed.
This lists buildings that are approved 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.
Approved May 11, 2020.[306] Delayed several times, construction was expected to start in 2024.[307] though none has occurred as of 2025. Would become the second-tallest building in Chicago if completed.[308][309][310]
This lists buildings that are 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.
Initial design was approved July 19, 2018; revised design is pending approval.[332][333][334]
1325 West Fulton
538 (164)
39
2028
Tower 3 in phase 3 is proposed to be 39 stories tall and 538 ft high. Currently sales center is under construction, and the 29-story tall 438 ft high tower 1 construction is planned to break ground in 2026 and should be completed in 2028.[335]
Was the tallest hotel in Chicago until its demolition. First building outside of New York City to have more than 40 floors. The hotel first opened in 1915, with the tower added during an expansion in 1925. It was demolished in 1965. TheChase Tower was later built on the site.[341]
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 asGateway Tower or theMiglin-Beitler Skyneedle that were never intended to be built, nor does it include projects that were not approved by theChicago Plan Commission such as theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel and Residence Tower.
The original design for Waterview Tower was cancelled after construction of the first 26 floors of the building.OneEleven was built on the vacated structure.[349][350][351]
^Cronon 1992, p. 345 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronon1992 (help);Schleier 1986, p. 5 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSchleier1986 (help);Bluestone 1991, p. 112 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBluestone1991 (help)
^Willis 1995, p. 36 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help);Cronon 1992, p. 346 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCronon1992 (help)
^Condit 1968, pp. 124–125 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFCondit1968 (help)
^Willis 1995, p. 5 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help)
^Willis 1995, p. 50 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help);Bluestone 1991, p. 112 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBluestone1991 (help)
^Fenske 2005, p. 20 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFenske2005 (help)
^Wolner 2005, pp. 103–104, 106 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWolner2005 (help)
^Bluestone 1991, p. 150 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBluestone1991 (help);Willis 1995, p. 9 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help)
^Willis 1995, p. 11 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help)
^Bluestone 1991, pp. 143–144 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBluestone1991 (help);Bragdon 2003, p. 158 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFBragdon2003 (help)
^abFine 2005, p. 66 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFFine2005 (help)
^Willis 1995, p. 58 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help)
^Willis 1995, p. 109 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help)
^Willis 1995, pp. 109–110 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFWillis1995 (help)
^Schleier 1986, p. 112 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSchleier1986 (help);Solomonson 2005, p. 158 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFSolomonson2005 (help);Goldberger 1985, p. 51 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFGoldberger1985 (help)
^Roth, Morry (November 24, 1971). "Radio-Television: Chicago Group Bids Stations Take Stand Vs. Now Building Sears Tower".Variety. Vol. 265, no. 2. p. 44.ProQuest1014881361.
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