333 South Wabash

333 South Wabash - The Northern Trust Tower
333 South Wabash - The Northern Trust Tower
	333 South Wabash in 2009; view looking east
General information
Status	Completed
Type	Office
Location	333 S Wabash Ave; Chicago; IL 60604; United States
Coordinates	41°52′38.7″N 87°37′32.3″W / 41.877417°N 87.625639°W
Construction started	March 1970
Completed	1972
Opening	1973
Height
Roof	600 ft (183 m)
Technical details
Floor count	44
Floor area	1,299,990 sq ft (120,773 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Graham, Anderson, Probst & White

333 South Wabash (formerly CNA Center, nicknamed "Big Red")^[2] is a 600-ft (183 m), 44-story skyscraper located at 333 South Wabash Avenue in the central business district of Chicago, Illinois.

Description

333 South Wabash is a simple, rectangular International Style building, but it is unique in that the entire building was painted bright red by Eagle Painting & Maintenance Company, Inc., turning an otherwise ordinary-looking structure into one of the most eye-catching buildings in the city. It was designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and was completed in 1972.^[1]

Occupants

As of 2014, CNA occupied 65 percent of the tower.^[3] Other occupants included The Chicago Housing Authority, United Way and Akuna Capital.^[3]^[4]^[5]

In December 2015, CNA announced it would sell the structure and relocate to a new facility at 151 North Franklin which would be renamed CNA Center. The company and developer, John Buck Co., expected the move to take place in summer 2018. As part of the transaction, Buck purchased the Wabash Street building for $108 million and would redevelop it.^[6]

In August 2017, Buck and Northern Trust announced an agreement for the bank to lease 465,000 square feet (43,200 m²) of the building. The lease, which includes signage and naming rights, will consolidate approximately 2,500 to 3,000 Northern Trust workers from several sites around Chicago and take place in 2020.^[7]

History

Originally known as Continental Center III, in reference to the original moniker of CNA Financial Corporation, Continental National American Group,^[8] both CNA Center (formerly CNA Plaza) and the neighboring CNA Center North (Continental Center II, built in 1962 at 55 East Jackson Blvd.) adjoined and were painted red. The shorter red building was later restored to its original gray tone in 1999.^[9] The two buildings remain joined at the second floor: CNA's Conference Center uses space on that floor, but all entrance and egress to it is through CNA Center.^{[citation needed]} The company's previous headquarters from 1943 to 1962 had been Metropolitan Tower (310 South Michigan Avenue, aka Continental Center I).^[10]

In 1999, a large fragment of a window fell from the building and killed a woman walking with her child. Windows had been cracking at the building ever since it had been built in 1975 due to thermal stress of uneven heating caused by the building's inset windows. CNA Financial, a property insurance company, later paid $18 million to settle the resultant lawsuit. All of the building's windows were replaced in an expensive retrofit.^[11]^[12]

Lighted window messages

Chicago skyline with the 333 South Wabash (far left) showing the Chicago Blackhawks' logo, the Smurfit-Stone Building saying Go Hawks and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower saying Hawks Win the night after the 2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, viewed from the Petrillo Music Shell lawn in Grant Park

Utilizing a combination of lights on/off and 1,600 window blinds open/closed (and sometimes foamboard cutouts), the windows on 333 South Wabash are often used to display lighted window messages, typically denoting holidays, remembrances, and other events denoting Chicago civic pride, such as when the Blackhawks played in and won the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals and when the Cubs made their 2016 World Series run. Building engineers use a computer program to plot which windows need to be lighted to create the proper message.^[13]^[14]

Position in Chicago's skyline

Gallery

Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October 2005
December 2005, "gift" of a wrapped present design reflecting the winter holidays.
333 South Wabash cheers the Chicago Bears
Lighted window message for New Year's Eve 2007
CNA's building with wording formed by office lights through windows "Go Cubs Go".