The John Deere World Headquarters is a complex of four buildings located on 1,400 acres (5.7 km²) of land at One John Deere Place,

Moline, Illinois Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Islan ...

, United States. The complex serves as corporate headquarters for agricultural heavy equipment company

John Deere Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, ...

History

The complex opened on April 20, 1964. The buildings were designed by the Finnish-American architect

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...

, who died before its construction was complete, only four days after he signed the contract for the newest buildings. The project was finished by architect Kevin Roche. It was built according to Deere & Company President William Hewitt's instructions using COR-TEN

weathering steel Weathering steel, often referred to by the genericised trademark COR-TEN steel and sometimes written without the hyphen as corten steel, is a group of steel alloys which were developed to eliminate the need for painting, and form a stable r ...

—one of the first architectural applications of the material—which gave the building an ''earthy'' look as it oxidized and aged. In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the John Deere World Headquarters was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

Illinois component (AIA Illinois) and was recognized by USA Today Travel magazine, as one of AIA Illinois' selections for Illinois 25 Must See Places.

Building and amenities

Within the building are offices for over 900 staff and an auditorium with 350 seats. The grounds are open seven days a week and are free to all. The building interior is closed to the public.

Landscape

The design for the campus was created by

Hideo Sasaki Hideo Sasaki (25 November 1919 – 30 August 2000) was a Japanese American landscape architect. Biography Hideo Sasaki was born in Reedley, California, on 25 November 1919. He grew up working on his family's California truck farm, and harvesti ...

of Sasaki Associates landscape architecture firm. The design picked up an ASLA Classic Award in 1991 and is considered by many to be the archetypal corporate setting.

External links

John Deere Headquarters
on Architectuul
John Deere Gift shop
at World Headquarters
Illinois Great Places

John Deere World HeadquartersSociety of Architectural Historians SAH ARCHIPEDIA entry on John Deere World Headquarters

References

John Deere Buildings and structures in Moline, Illinois Eero Saarinen structures Tourist attractions in the Quad Cities Office buildings completed in 1964 1964 establishments in Illinois Weathering steel Corporate headquarters in the United States Tourist attractions in Rock Island County, Illinois {{Illinois-struct-stub