The Crain Communications Building is a 39-story, 582 foot (177 m)
skyscraper located at 150 North
Michigan Avenue in downtown
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
.
It was also known as the Smurfit–Stone Building and the Stone Container Building. While the building was originally going to be called "One Park Place," it opened as The Associates Center, named after the initial tenant of the building, the Associates Commercial Corp.
Construction of the building began in 1983 and was completed in 1984. The building, noted for its unusually slanted facade, was designed by Sheldon Schlegman of
A. Epstein and Sons. It has 39 floors of tenant space and the two spires at the top cover the main roof and serve as
mechanical rooms for
HVAC equipment.
History
Although the building looks as though it is split down the middle, the two sides are only slightly disjointed until nearing the top, where there is a gap between them. At times, its slanted roof—which has been likened to a skyscraper pared with a knife—displays local sports slogans on its face, such as "GO
BEARS
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
" and "GO
SOX
Sox most often refers to:
* Boston Red Sox, an MLB team
* Chicago White Sox, an MLB team
* An alternate spelling of socks
Sox may also refer to:
Places
* SOX, Sogamoso Airport's IATA airport code, an airport in Colombia
Computing and technolo ...
".
It also displayed "VOTE 2008" during the 2008 election day rally at Grant Park.
At the time of its construction, the Associates Center was considered to be a
smart building
Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...
, with sophisticated environmental and security controls. Three years after its completion, the building played a role in the
Touchstone Pictures film ''
Adventures in Babysitting
''Adventures in Babysitting'' (also known as ''A Night on the Town'' in certain countries) is a 1987 American teen comedy film written by David Simkins and directed by Chris Columbus in his directorial debut. It stars Elisabeth Shue, Keith Coo ...
''. It was also the location of Patrovita's office in the 1986 film ''
Raw Deal''. The building is also modeled in
EA's ''
SimCity 4
''SimCity 4'' is a city-building simulation computer game developed by Maxis, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. It was released on January 14, 2003. It is the fourth major installment in the ''SimCity'' series. ''SimCity 4'' has a single expan ...
'', as well as being destroyed in the film ''
Transformers: Dark of the Moon'' and in the videogame ''
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2''. The building name was changed to the Crain Communications Building in March 2012, after
Crain Communications
Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries.
History
Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...
moved its headquarters there.
The building is popularly referred to as the Diamond Building or the Vagina Building (from the locally popular but apocryphal story that, with its prominent vertical slit up the front, the building was designed to be a
yoni
''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with '' linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of micr ...
c counter to the
phallic
A phallus is a penis (especially when Erection, erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimesis, mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic.
Any object that symbolically— ...
nature of most skyscrapers).
Tenants
*
Crain Communications
Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries.
History
Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...
Consulate General of Sweden Chicago*
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
: Insurance Services
*
United Airlines
United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. : previously maintained a ticketing office in this building.
See also
*
List of tallest buildings in Chicago
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Chicago skyscrapers, state=collapsed
Office buildings completed in 1984
Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago