The AT&T Corporate Center is the 4th tallest completed skyscraper in Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States and the 9th tallest in the United States at a height of 1,021 ft (307 m) containing 60 floors. Completed in 1989, the 1.7 million square foot (158,000 m²) supertall building stands two blocks east of the Chicago River and northeast of the Sears Tower at 227 West Monroe Street (100 South Franklin alternate address) in the Loop community area of downtown Chicago. Composed of retail and commercial office space, the tower is the tallest building constructed in Chicago in the last quarter of the 20th century. The building was built to consolidate American Telephone & Telegraph Company central regional headquarters offices.
In 1982, the American Telephone & Telegraph Company monopoly was dissolved by the court ordered divestiture of local phone companies. In the decade that followed, AT&T erected new buildings across the country including the AT&T Building in New York City. On April 5, 1985, AT&T issued a request for proposals that produced eleven respondents. Stein and Co., the winning realtor, sought Skidmore, Owings and Merrill as designers for the purpose of distinguishing a proposal from the nearby Sears Tower. On April 3, 1989, AT&T employees began to occupy the office space.
The building was built under a self-imposed comprehensive minority contracting and affirmative action package that met the city's 1985 30% hiring rule for public sector projects. Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's administration had passed an edict that 30% of the work for public sector projects be set aside for minority and women-owned businesses. In a show of support for this rule Stein & Co. and AT&T adopted the rule for their private development.
Designed by Adrian D. Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the AT&T Corporate Center, named after AT&T, is one of the most famous and recognized buildings in Chicago. The building's form features setbacks at the 15th, 30th and 45th floors. Designed in the postmodern architectural style, it is a granite-clad steel-framed building resting on pile foundations. The structure is characterized by strong vertical lines, spiked roof pinnacles, granite cladding and setbacks. The granite is a deep red color at the base, but changes shade to rose-beige at the top. Above the 5th floor, the lighter rose-beige granite is protected by silk-screened aluminum panels. The building relies on Gothic detailing to showcase verticality. The building's verticality evokes images of 1920s buildings, and the sturdiness of the structure is reminiscent of the Chicago Board of Trade Building. In addition to its design, the building relies on its location at the farthest corner from the Sears Tower to set it apart.
The Otis elevators are spanned by series of neo-deco light bands extending wall to wall. The lobby extends completely through the block, with a giant entrance hall at Monroe Street and a 16-story full-height atrium in the link between the AT&T and USG towers (also designed by Smith) as both towers share a common appearance. The building boasts two public lobbies and a mezzanine-level lobby. The lobbies are among the most lavish in Chicago, and they are all decorated with patterned marble floors and walls, bronze, gold-leaf oak trim, and stylized lighting fixtures.
The building features an elaborate 60th floor conference center, a lobby-level 650-seat restaurant, a Шаблон:Convert retail concourse on two levels, and a 170-car 24-hour parking facility on the lower two levels. The building lobby extends all the way through the block to connect with the nearby USG Building. An atrium links between them. [1]
As with other downtown buildings, the tower's setbacks and spires are accented by colored lights at night. The building's managers were praised for dimming their lights during bird migrations, reducing bird mortality 80%.
The USG Corporation developed the 35-story Шаблон:Convert USG Building as its corporate headquarter building immediately adjacent to and connected to the AT&T Corporate Center in 1992. It is located at 125 South Franklin Street. The same developers, architects and design teams were chosen, and the two buildings were built jointly as a block long two building complex on an Шаблон:Convert site. They share a 16-story atrium which houses a grand arcade and serves as a common base to the two separate towers.
Positioned near the southwest corner of the Loop, the building is near two elevated stations of the Chicago 'L'. The Quincy station is one block to the south and the Washington and Wells station is located two blocks to the north, both on Wells Street. Union Station stands three blocks to the west on Jackson Boulevard, providing terminal service for Amtrak and select service for Metra. Additional Metra service is provided at the LaSalle Street Station, four blocks to the south and Ogilvie Transportation Center station four blocks to the north-west.
The Center is the 4th tallest completed building in Chicago, trailing the Sears Tower, Aon Center and John Hancock Center in height, but will be surpassed in height by the Chicago Spire, Trump International Hotel & Tower and the Waterview Tower should each be completed as planned. The building's official height measurement increased to from Шаблон:Convert to Шаблон:Convert when the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat changed measurement conventions to include ornamental spires during the Sears Tower - Petronas Tower height controversy.
