225 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606 United States
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This is what happens to castles when they grow up. 225 West Wacker Drive is a bean-counter-safe 1980’s beige-and-glass tower combined with some decorative touches that make it actually likeable as a building. Start with the narrow front facing Wacker Drive – it is two columns with pairs of windows in pairs punched through the façade. But as you reach the upper stages, there is more. A two-story collar separates the basic skyscraper shaft from a tall vaulted finish. The center column that runs down the front disappears and the windows are united in a large glass curtain capped by an arch. A looming presence looking down on the street below and helps increase this building’s stature beyond its restrictive lot line. Each of the four corners is capped with a turret featuring a simplified spire. Looking along the side of the building, the upper register is filled with triple-story windows topped by cross braces, giving the illusion of classical flying buttresses. Historic themes aside, this building likes to play nice with its neighbors. The ground floor features air handling ducts in circles similar to the round shapes employed by 333 West Wacker next door. And the spires are reminiscent of the ones across the river at the Merchandise Mart. In all, a pleasant building that makes good use of available space and is just different enough to be architecturally significant.

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