Aon Center (Chicago)

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Aon Center
Information
Location 200 East Randolph Street
Chicago, Illinois
Status Complete
Constructed 1970-1972
Opening 1973
Use Office
Height
Roof 346 m (1,136 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 83 aboveground
5 belowground
Floor area 334,448 m²
3,600,000 sq. ft.
Elevator count 50
Cost $120,000,000 (USD)
Companies
Architect Edward Durell Stone
Contractor Turner Construction
Developer Standard Oil of Indiana

The Aon Center (200 East Randolph Street) is a modern skyscraper in Chicago designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and completed in 1973 as the Standard Oil Building.[1] With 83 floors and a height of 346 m (1,136 ft), it is the second tallest building in Chicago, surpassed in height only by the Sears Tower. It is the third tallest in the United States behind the Empire State Building and the 15th tallest in the world. The building is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle.

Contents

The Aon Center from the Sears Tower Skydeck.
The Aon Center from the Sears Tower Skydeck.

The Standard Oil Building was constructed as the new headquarters of the Standard Oil Company of Indiana, which had previously been housed at South Michigan Avenue and East 9th Street. When it was completed in 1973 it was the tallest building in Chicago and the fourth-tallest in the world, earning it the nickname "Big Stan".[2] (A year later, the Sears Tower took the title as Chicago's tallest.) The building employs a tubular steel-framed structural system with V-shaped perimeter columns to resist earthquakes, reduce sway, minimize column bending, and maximize column-free space.

When completed, it was the world's tallest marble-clad building, being sheathed entirely with 43,000 slabs of Italian Carrara marble. This quickly proved to be an unsuitable cladding for the harsh Chicago winters. In 1974, just a year after completion, one of the marble slabs detached from the façade and penetrated the roof of the nearby Prudential Center Annex. To alleviate the problem, stainless steel straps were added to hold the marble in place.[2] Later, from 1990 to 1992, the entire building was refaced with Mount Airy white granite at an estimated cost of over $80 million.[1][3] (Amoco was reticent to divulge the actual amount, but it was well over half the original price of the building, without adjustment for inflation.) The discarded marble was crushed and used as landscaping decoration at Amoco's refinery in Whiting, Indiana.[1]

The Standard Oil Building was renamed the Amoco Building when the company changed names in 1985. In 1998, Amoco sold the building to The Blackstone Group for an undisclosed amount, estimated to be between $430 and $440 million.[1][2] It was renamed as the Aon Center on December 30, 1999, although the Aon Corporation would not become the building's primary tenant until September 2001.[4] In May 2003, Wells Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. acquired the building for between $465 and $475 million.[5][1]

Looking up
Looking up

In the early 1980s, the lights in selected offices in the building were turned on to form a huge cross during the Christmas season.[citation needed] In recent years, the top floors of the building have been lit at night with colors to reflect a particular season or holiday. Orange is used for Thanksgiving, green or red for Christmas, and pink during Cancer Awareness Month. The lighting commonly matches the nighttime lighting on the antenna of the Sears Tower and the upper floors of the Merchandise Mart.

In the plaza, there is a Sounding Sculpture by Harry Bertoia.

Aon is the building’s largest tenant, subleasing from BP.[citation needed] It leases a rentable 47,852 m² (515,083 sq. ft.), or 20.60% of the building.

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Preceded by
John Hancock Center
Tallest building in Chicago
1972—1973
346m
Succeeded by
Sears Tower

Coordinates: 41°53′07″N, 87°37′17″W

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