Completed in 1969, this 100-story, 1,128-foot tower on the Magnificent Mile was designed by Bruce Graham and the structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. When it topped out in 1968, it was the second-tallest building in the world, after the Empire State Building.
The giant X-braces on its tapering walls are not decoration. They are the structure itself: Khan's braced tube turns the outer skin into a stiff box that resists the wind. The tower stacks shops, offices and about 700 homes one above another, and at its completion it held the highest residences in the world.
Now officially called 875 North Michigan Avenue, it is still widely known as the Hancock. The 360 Chicago observatory near the top looks out over Lake Michigan and as many as four states.
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