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Smurfit-Stone Building (Chicago, Illinois)

USA / Illinois / Chicago / Chicago, Illinois / North Michigan Avenue, 150
 office building, skyscraper

The Smurfit-Stone Building is a 41-story, 582-foot (177-meter) skyscraper located at 150 North Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is located on the northwest corner of Grant Park, on the former site of the John Crerar Library. It was also known as the Stone Container Building and was formerly called the Associates Center. It is popularly referred to as the Diamond Building. Construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1984. The building, noted for its unusually slanted roof, was designed by Sheldon Schlegman of A. Epstein and Sons. The diamond-shaped slope is outlined with white light bulbs. Around the holidays they used to be replaced with coloured lights. The stated 41 floors do not actually include five unused levels on top of the building; they are located at the narrowest portion at the very peak of the diamond. The service cores are rotated 45 degress from the street grid, producing diagonally-oriented office floorplans which take advantage of the extraordinary southeast views.

Although the building looks as though it is split down the middle, the two sides are only slightly disjointed until nearing the top where there is a gap between them. At times, its slanted roof - which has been likened to a skyscraper slashed with a knife - displays local sports slogans on its face, such as "GO BEARS" or "GO SOX".

At the time of its construction, the Smurfit-Stone Building was considered to be a smart building, with sophisticated environmental and security controls.

A sculpture by Yaakov Agam used to occupy the triangular niche at street level. Called "Communication - X9", its colourful geometric patterns would change when the viewer walked past.

The building played a role in the 1987 Touchstone Pictures film Adventures in Babysitting starring Elisabeth Shue.

This was the location of Patrovita's office in the film 'Raw Deal' (1986).
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°53'5"N   87°37'29"W

Comments

  • beefgerky18
    Awesome design.
  • Mataglap
    Informally called "the slanty-roofed building".
  • jumper94 (guest)
    This building is supposed to be famine in design. It’s one of my favorites if not my favorite.
  • Cindy masecrenolastname (guest)
    What an awesome building!!!!! I live there.
  • Frzbndr
    Here was Luigi Patrovita's office from "Raw Deal"?
  • Gabe1972
    Yep.
  • Show all comments
This article was last modified 3 years ago