Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A bundled tower, a city on a river and a deck on the 103rd floor offer several ways into the story of Skydeck Chicago.
On this page
A landmark of structural design
Designed by Bruce Graham and Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and built between 1970 and 1974, the tower rises from nine square tubes bundled three by three.
When it opened in 1973 as the Sears Tower it was the tallest building in the world, a title it kept until 1998.
The view
The Skydeck opened on 22 June 1974 on the 103rd floor, 1,353 feet (412 metres) above the city. From its windows the Loop, the Chicago River and the grid of streets spread out below.
Since 2009, The Ledge has let visitors step into glass boxes about four feet beyond the side of the building.
A change of names
The building was known as the Sears Tower until 16 July 2009, when it was officially renamed Willis Tower.
This history belongs to the building and the people who designed and built it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
