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35 East Wacker Drive
35 East Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60601 United States Print this page • 
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It’s not very often that we gush uncontrollably about a building, but 35 East Wacker is one of the best buildings in the city of Chicago. Originally known as the Jewelers Building, it was created for the city’s diamond merchants and had an unusual security procedure – to reduce the chances that its tenants would be mugged walking between their cars and their offices, the building featured a central auto elevator that could lift cars as high as the 22nd floor. People would drive into this elevator and it would take them to the floor where their office was. Jewelers loaded down with precious stones and metals wouldn’t have to be exposed to a potentially hostile exterior environment. Though innovative, it was an arrangement that didn’t last very long. By the Second World War the auto elevators were abandoned and decked over to make more office space. Naturally, these kind of freight elevators required more mechanical space than regular passenger elevators, and the entire 24th floor was given over to that task, and as a maintenance shop for crafting replacement pieces for the building’s ornate terra cotta exterior and interior needs. This wasn’t reclaimed for office space until the very late 20th century.
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Rate This Skyscraper method='post' action='Building.php?ID=1064#Rate'>Current rating:  70% name='Rating' id='Rating' value='Praise' class='Plain'> name='Rating' id='Rating' value='Raze' class='Plain'>Your Thoughts There are six comments.
richbh - Tuesday, August 7th, 2007 @ 2:49am
David - Saturday, May 19th, 2007 @ 1:17pm
Judith Kerr - Sunday, December 31st, 2006 @ 8:12pm
kirby Cruz - Thursday, December 7th, 2006 @ 8:27pm
Rudy Banducci - Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 @ 8:53pm
Jon Hendry - Saturday, October 14th, 2006 @ 10:48pm |
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I worked on the 33rd floor of this building for seven years. It is certainly a beautiful building on the outside, and affords spectacular views of the Chicago River (from the spire of NBC Tower on the East to the Merchandise Mart on the West). Mechanicals in the building are spotty at best, but are slowly improving thanks to the diligence of its Canadian owners. It was a shame, however, to see so much of the marble interior floors carpeted over, and the marble wainscoating torn off the walls and thrown away. But the creation of the spectacular and gilded coffered ceiling in the lobby (purportedly from the original plans which were never realized) was a joy to behold. It was well worth suffering through 18 months of scaffolding in the lobby to see the completed project.
If you watch reruns of "The Untouchables" - look closely at the background art for the opening and closing credits. You can see a rendering of this building in the scene.
