875 North Michigan Avenue

The X-braced Hancock, where Chicago learned to live a thousand feet up.

Chicago, IL 60611

Homestalgia Archive

Community memory · 1969–today · Aug 7, 2026

Verified

The John Hancock Center, finished in 1969, was Fazlur Rahman Khan and Bruce Graham's answer to a hard question: how do you build 100 stories on a narrow site without filling the floors with columns? Khan's trussed-tube design moved the structure to the skin, which is why the X-braces are visible — they are the building, not decoration. It was designed with apartments above offices.

Source: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, John Hancock Center project record; Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, The Skyscraper Center, 875 North Michigan Avenue building record

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Stand at the curb

Walk around it

Facing the house

From above

See it from the sky

A cinematic orbit of the actual roofline, lot and street — rendered from Google's aerial imagery of this exact address.

Satellite view of 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, 60611

Cinematic coverage is unavailable here. Satellite view shown instead.

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