The Willis Tower

841 Words2 Pages

Michal Malek
L.A., Period 2
5/6/14
First Draft
Chicago’s Skyscraper Champion: The Willis Tower
1973-1998 were the years when the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) was the tallest building in the world. It was ruling the sky for 25 years! The Willis Tower has a rich history, an interesting building structure, and is a tourist attraction for many.

The Willis Tower was originally the Sears Tower when it was built in 1974. The Willis Tower is currently located in Chicago, IL. on S. Wacker Drive (Gallun, 2003). Let us go to the building when it was the Sears Tower, which was built by the company called Sears, Roebuck & Co. (Currently Sears). When the Sears Tower was built, it was the tallest building in the world with a height of 1,450 ft. architectural height! The Willis Tower was the tallest building for 25 years! That is the second longest record holding for tallest skyscraper, after the Empire State Building 45 years as tallest skyscraper in Manhattan. When the Petronas Towers were built in Malaysia, it surpassed the Willis Tower. In 1994, Sears, Roebuck & Co. sold their building, the Willis Tower, to AEW Capital Management (Sears Tower, 2012). Then, they sold it to TrizecHahn in 1997 (Sears Tower). Next, TrizecHahn sell the Willis Tower to MetLife, which then sold it to 5 NY investors (Sears Tower). In 2009, the company Willis Group Holdings got the Sears Tower’s naming rights and officially changed its name to Sears Tower (Keen, 2009).

The Willis Tower has a very unique and strange structural design. The Willis Tower’s architect firm was the company Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). It was the company that provided the Willis Tower’s architect, Bruce Graham. It also provided the Structural Engineer, Fazlur Rahman Khan. The pla...

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...y within a city. Other features the Willis Tower has is a 99th floor (Willis Tower 1). If you have a wedding you can have your wedding party in the building. Other features are a yoga place inside, markets, conference room and so much things inside that is hard to name and count all of them (Willis Tower 1).

The Willis Tower has many information and cool things that you can learn about, is a unique building and has many fun things to do. The Willis Tower makes the Chicago skyline very beautiful and the building is a structure known to almost everyone. It is a famous building and it is a modern structure of our world and is very elegant inside. The Willis Tower is many things like a city, an attraction, and a big service place. If you want to see the Willis Tower, come to Chicago and check it out. It may be a great experience to go into Chicago’s tallest building.

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