Aon Center (Chicago)

Infobox Skyscraper


building_name=Aon Center
use=Office
location=200 East Randolph Street Chicago, Illinois
opening=1973
floor_count=83 aboveground 5 belowground
elevator_count=50
roof= 1,136 ft (346 m)
floor_area=3,600,000 sq. ft. 334,448 m²
cost=$120,000,000 (USD)
built=1970-1972
architect=Edward Durell Stone
contractor=Turner Construction
developer=Standard Oil of Indiana

The Aon Center (200 East Randolph Street, formerly Amoco Building) [cite web|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0F968E80C195CF74&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=AA98CDC331574F0ABEAFF732B33DC0B2|title=New owner expected for Aon Center|accessdate=2008-09-18|date=2003-02-21|publisher=Newsbank|work=Chicago Sun-Times|author=Roeder, David] is a modern skyscraper in Chicago designed by architect firms Edward Durell Stone and The Perkins and Will partnership, and completed in 1973 as the Standard Oil Building.Citation
author = Emporis
title = Aon Center, Chicago
url = http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=aoncenter-chicago-il-usa
accessdate = 2008-04-23 ] With 83 floors and a height of 1,136 feet (346 m), it is the third tallest building in Chicago, surpassed in height by the Sears Tower and the Trump Tower. The building is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle.

History

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".Citation
author = Glass Steel and Stone
title = Aon Center
url = http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/625.php
accessdate = 2007-09-25 ] (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. Later, from 1990 to 1992, the entire building was refaced with Mount Airy white granite at an estimated cost of over $80 million.Citation
last=McMillan
first=Greg
publication-date=2007-06-12
title=Two buildings, two cities, one problem
periodical=The Globe and Mail
publication-place=Toronto
url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070612.PRMARBLE12/TPStory/Business
accessdate=2007-09-25] (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. Two years after the completion of the Standard Oil Building, First Canadian Place was opened in Toronto, Ontario. Durrell Stone acted as the consulting architect on the project, which ended up being of a very similar design to the project in Chicago; square in plan, 48 meters shorter, and clad in white Italian Carrara marble, the only visible difference being the horizontal orientation of the windows on the Toronto tower, as opposed to the vertical run of the windows on the Standard Oil tower. Echoing the problems with the cladding experienced on the Standard Oil Building, in 2007 a panel of marble fell from the 60th floor of First Canadian Place. [ [http://www.thestar.com/News/article/214373 Doolittle, Robyn; "Toronto Star": King St. to stay closed; May 16, 2007] ]

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. 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. [Citation
author = Business Wire
title = ADVISORY/Chicago Landmark Office Tower Officially Renamed Aon Center During Unveiling Ceremony
url = http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ADVISORY%2FChicago+Landmark+Office+Tower+Officially+Renamed+Aon+Center...-a058415200
accessdate = 2007-09-25 ] In May 2003, Wells Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. acquired the building for between $465 and $475 million. [Citation
author = Miller Cicero, LLC
title = Trophy Building Sale Sets New Record
publication-date=2003-10-07
url = http://www.millercicero.com/press/files-view.php?ViewNode=1066154585cVxrI
accessdate = 2007-09-25 ] (On August 10, 2007, Wells Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. changed its name to Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc.) [Citation
author = Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc.
title = Wells REIT Changes Name to Piedmont Office Realty Trust
url = http://www.piedmontreit.com/cms/content/view/139/63
accessdate = 2007-08-10 ]

Exterior lighting

In the early 1980s, the lights in selected offices in the building were turned on to form a huge cross during the Christmas season.Fact|date=February 2007 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 Breast 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.

Plaza

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

Tenants

Aon is the building’s largest tenant, subleasing from BP.Fact|date=September 2007 It leases a rentable 515,083 sq. ft. (47,852 m²), or 20.6% of the building.
*Agency.com
*BP
*Kirkland & Ellis
*DDB Worldwide
*Element 79
*Jones Lang LaSalle
*Daniel Edelman Inc.
*ThoughtWorks
*R.H. Donnelly
*Strata Decision Technology
*Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
*The Mid-America Club
*Veolia
*Zeno Group
*Microsoft

Position in Chicago's skyline

ee also

*List of buildings
*List of skyscrapers
*List of tallest buildings in Chicago
*List of tallest buildings in the United States
*World's tallest structures
*List of tallest freestanding structures in the world

Notes

External links