thanx jibba! Think you might like these shots then too :)

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...p/100_1469.jpg
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...p/100_1482.jpg

^Nice. Thanks for those shots; that is one of my favorite spots on the river. BTW, the architect who designed the white-framed building on the left with the chevron-patterned exposed trusses is Lucien Lagrange...same guy who designed the neo-Classic Elysian. Interesting, huh?

well, the designs for both erie-on-the-park and kingsbury-on-the-park may have come out of lagrange's office, but there has been widespread speculation over the years on this forum that they were designed by others within the firm.

I've been a huge skyscraper buff for years and Big John has remained one of my favorite supertalls in the world. It's too bad it's antenna doesn't count in it's official height... because at 1500 feet it would be right behind the Shanghai World Financial Center in height.

BTW, I would love to live in there..

Definitely my favorite from Chi Town. Since i was a little kid, ive been fascinated by this tower. I would constantly doodle it. I still do. Its also the only reason ive watched Poltergeist 3 as many times as i have. One day i'll be able to see it in person

You are exactly right Dan.

That would make sense I guess. Thanks for letting me know. I will now proceed to give him that much less benefit of the doubt now :) .

Jan 30
 

From State & Wacker

poor Kelly Bundy had to wait at the top alone for so long.

^Haha I loved Married with Children. Wasn't there some episode involving Sears too?

Feb 3
 

From Ashland/Lake on the Green/Pink lines






Panasonic DMZ TZ4 - Picasa - Autostitch - Photomatix HDR

JHC smiles big!



And I like the way the light reflects off the H2O Twr Pl.


ps.... Big John turns 40 this yr!

John Hancock with ears!

The only other picture I've seen of the Center, with those cranes on either end, was in this railroad book i had when I was a kid. A picture of a Santa Fe train leaving LaSalle Station with JHC, at about that stage of construction, in the background. Both pics are classics, esp. with the absence of Water Twr Pl.

John Hancock is brute structure & graceful, restrained finesse on a grand scale. The Eiffel Tower of Chicago.

^^^ Well composed! Where did you get that from? The Cityfront Center Plaza or whatever its called? Over in between NBC and the Booth School of Business? Or is it from further away?

^Thanks. It's from further away; upper Wacker Drive, to be exact.

My shots over the past 4 years.

01/27/08
https://community.emporis.com/images.../04/607549.jpg

10/21/07
https://community.emporis.com/images.../12/575400.jpg

10/25/06
https://community.emporis.com/images.../11/499132.jpg

03/26/06
https://community.emporis.com/images.../04/449470.jpg

08/29/05
https://community.emporis.com/images.../06/468043.jpg

New kids on the block

Uneven antennae
 

The old red/white antennae on the JHC are burned into my head from my first childhood visit to Chicago, so I was a bit dismayed when I saw the replacements: uneven in height and not very solid or consistent looking. Does anyone else think they are a downgrade in terms of appearance? Seems like the people who put of the new set weren't thinking so much of aesthetics here.

^^^ That's exactly the point, aesthetics are supposed to be irrelevant in this design. Its entirely functional. It would be a crime if they were to make less functional antennae just because "it looks better"...

I think they look nice now. I think they are an improvement over the candy striped red and white ones. I think the unfinished look you're referring to goes well with JHC's exposed, butalist architecture.

From three miles out:
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/784...ock9030160.jpg

April 2, 2009

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/4295/jhc3d.jpg

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/1420/jhc4h.jpg

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/6760/jhc5h.jpg

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3448/jhc2f.jpg

Never get tired of looking at it.

Feel exactly the same way. Easily my favorite scraper.
But man does that Cheescake Factory restraunt look like a booger stuck to the tow of a person. Just so out of place with the rest of the building!

5.3

Are the Apartments in the John Hancock Center unaffordable or affordable.
I'd really love to live in such a tall Building.
Too bad there arent much of these in Europe.

^^^ They are a steal for what you get. Studios start at about 175k, 1 br's start at like 250k and 1 brs start at about 375k. The prices go much higher for updated units and higher floors, but the units don't even start until floor 46 so any unit has astounding views.

Compare that to Trump Tower where a 1 br starts at like 500k...

Very nice building...what are the costs to live in such a fine structure?

Umm, post above yours???

Speaking of red and white antennas...
 

Taken from the Sears Tower Skydeck, April 11, 2002. I was only 15 (almost 16) then :D

Sorry about the quality, it was a bad scan...

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._3065485_n.jpg

June 20
 

a truly amazing building, nothing can stand to it, except sears, and the ESB, and maybe the bank of china tower:rolleyes:

10-27

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4122/jhcr.jpg

Well if you are a skyscraper fan, or just a fan of good work you can't stop. The people, the design, and the presence of this tower was (and continues to be) some of the most impressive in the world hands down. Fazlur Kahn, Bruce Graham, and the entire team at SOM staked their futures on this design and it worked! Yeah, I love Sears Tower and I think that really put them on the map, but without John Hancock Sears would be something totally different today. It's that classic "Reinforced Tube" design that allows these two monsters to bookmark one of the best skylines in the world.

To me, Sears is a large and almost offensive office building with little interaction with the general public. John Hancock, on the other hand, is the model for mixed use to the max in skyscrapers! It's interaction with the public is what helped make Magnificent Mile what it is today. The tower welcomes those wondering in off the street with stores, resturants, and boutiques. Whereas Sears stops you at the desk unless you have official business in the tower or are going to the SkyDeck. That is the main definning points of the two sister towers. Yes, these towers are tied to eachother at the hip, but the similarities end around the second floor. John Hancock was built FOR THE PEOPLE and Sears was built FOR THE COMPANY. Still, both function as they should and are unmatched in many arenas. Great thread. I have really enjoyed the pictures in here, especially the slides with construction of JHC taking place. As one said earlier on, finding construction pictures of JHC is really hard for some reason. When I do see a construction shot, especially from a new angle I am ver intrested in it! Thanks for posting those shots!!:tup:

With all that said, I would love to add a few photos of "Big John" I have gathered. I was up in Chicago a couple times this year and this is what I have thus far (until my next trip!).

All can be found in my "Chicago" Gallery on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/perspectivephotography/

Enjoy them and sorry about their size. I am a sucker for big pics with lots of detail in them. Give them time to download.

Michael Davis

The Observation Deck up on the 94th floor. BTW, let me say this. The elevator ride up John Hancock Center from the ground floor to the 94th or 95th floor should be an amusement park ride. That son of a gun is flying and you feel it! Especially if you are close to the door. You feel the wind and you are well aware that this isn't the slightly slower Sears Tower (no, I refuse to call it "Willis Tower") elevators.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/...59005793_o.jpg

"Big John" from the Sears Tower. Despite the haze over downtown, it still looks great! Hard to imagine that the broadcast towers on top are as tall as most cities tallest skyscrapers!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2584/...3bde51f4_o.jpg

From the corner of North Michigan and East Chestnut at Water Tower Place.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2432/...ee625a8d_o.jpg

View from the top. This is just a sick view even if the lighting wasn't the best.http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2469/...2e772987_o.jpg

One of my personal favorite shots of Chicago. This is what it's all about folks!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2482/...a809de34_o.jpg

That's all for now. This is an amazing tower! Please, if you have stories or photos, post them and help this thread keep going!!! Also, if you are going to Chicago or are planning a trip close by, a stop at JHC is a must. Make time for it please, you WILL NOT regret that at all I promise! :cheers:

If I end up in Chicago this will be at the top of my list for potential condos. Perfect in every way.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/...59005793_o.jpg

I see this everyday, and it never gets old. :)

So I assume you work up there then? If so, I concur! I certainly wouldn't find the view from there old at any point of any day. I have said it before and I will say it again, pound for pound the view from JHC is better than Willis Tower. Plus, the portion where you can actually walk outside is neat too!!

Did anyone see what they were doing to the antenna the other day? They had a bunch of cables wired up to the West one and were lowering down some huge (probably 80 foot) section of an about 5 foot wide cylindrical object. It looked like they might have been replacing a transmitter or something.

Well, that sounds like an actual antennea itself. See, the antennea is attached to the mast. The mast is the two tall towers on the roof. If it was cylindrical it could be one of a couple things, an FM antennea array or an HDTV antennea. They require maintenance from time to time, but not very often thankfully.

EDIT!!!

I was looking at one of my pictures of JHC and just noticed, that may actually be a part of the mast itself. Or, there is a cylindrical antennea about a third of the way down from the top of the mast. That could be what you saw and if so, that's an HDTV antennea I believe. Can you pinpoint the part in this shot?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3505/...12125b85_o.jpg

Yes I see it in that shot! Its the three-segmented looking thing just below where the antenna/mast goes from being completely solid to the lattice work of the mast. Its looks like its attached to the side of the mast on the left antenna. Though, that piece looks a little thinner than the one I saw, perhaps it looks wider from the side? But it was definitely three segmented and about that long.

Yeah, that's an HD antennea. I know that there are only two TV stations in Chicagoland that use JHC for their broadcast platform. So, it was either the local Univision television station or the local PBS affiliate. Most of the radio station "stuff" is on the mast to the right (or the East Mast as it's known).

Antennas
 

Hi guys. Does anyone know when the two antennas have been placed on the roof?? Have they been shoter before??

5-14

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/8215/jhcbw.jpg

6-24

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4990/jhcd.jpg