333 South Wabash (formerly CNA Center, nicknamed "Big Red") is a 600-ft (183 m), 44-story skyscraper located at 333 South Wabash Avenue in the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

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Description

333 South Wabash is a simple, rectangular International Style building, but it is unique in that the entire building was painted bright

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

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 Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W) was a Chicago architectural firm that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through Daniel Burnham's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham, and Burnh ...

and was completed in 1972.

Occupants

As of 2014, CNA occupied 65 percent of the tower. Other occupants included The

Chicago Housing Authority The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is a municipal corporation that oversees public housing within the city of Chicago. The agency's Board of Commissioners is appointed by the city's mayor, and has a budget independent from that of the city of ...

and United Way. In December 2015, CNA announced it would sell the structure and relocate to a new facility at

151 North Franklin 151 North Franklin (officially named CNA Center) is a skyscraper located at 151 North Franklin Avenue in the Chicago Loop. Completed in 2018 and standing at tall with 35 floors at the northeast corner of West Randolph Street and 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. In August 2017, Buck and

Northern Trust Northern Trust Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Chicago that caters to corporations, institutional investors, and ultra high net worth individuals. Northern Trust is one of the largest banking institutions in the Un ...

announced an agreement for the bank to lease 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.

History

Originally known as Continental Center III, in reference to the original moniker of

CNA Financial Corporation CNA Financial Corporation is a financial corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its principal subsidiary, Continental Casualty Company (CCC), was founded in 1897. CNA, the current parent company, was incorporated in 1967. CNA is t ...

, Continental National American Group, 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. 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. The company's previous headquarters from 1943 to 1962 had been Metropolitan Tower (310 South Michigan Avenue, aka Continental Center I). 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.

Lighted window messages

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 The 2016 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2016 season. The 112th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Chicago Cubs and the American Leag ...

run. Building engineers use a computer program to plot which windows need to be lighted to create the proper message.

Position in Chicago's skyline

References

External links

333 South Wabash Lighted Window Message ArchiveInformative site
{{Chicago Skyscrapers Office buildings completed in 1972 Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Insurance company headquarters in the United States 1972 establishments in Illinois