Richard J. Daley Center

Richard J. Daley Center
Richard J. Daley Center in 2006
Record height
Tallest in Chicago from 1965 to 1969[I]
Preceded by	Chicago Board of Trade Building
Surpassed by	John Hancock Center
General information
Architectural style	International Style
Location	Chicago, Illinois, United States
Address	55 West Randolph Street
Coordinates	41°53′02″N 87°37′49″W / 41.88393°N 87.63020°W / 41.88393; -87.63020
Construction started	1963
Completed	1965
Height
Architectural	648 ft (198 m)
Roof	648 ft (198 m)
Technical details
Floor count	32
Floor area	136,102 m2[1]
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Jacques Brownson C.F. Murphy Associates Skidmore Owings & Merrill Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett & Dart
Main contractor	American Bridge Company, Gust K. Newberg Construction Co.[2]
Website
thedaleycenter.com
References
[3][2]

The Richard J. Daley Center, also known by its open courtyard Daley Plaza and named after longtime mayor Richard J. Daley, is the premier civic center of the City of Chicago in Illinois. The Center's modernist skyscraper primarily houses offices and courtrooms for the Cook County Circuit Courts, Cook County State's Attorney and additional office space for the City and the County. It is adjacent to the neoclassical City Hall-County Building, also on the plaza. The open granite-paved plaza used for gatherings, protests, and events is also the site of the Chicago Picasso, a gift to the city from the artist.

Situated on Randolph Street and Washington Street between Dearborn Street and Clark Street, the Richard J. Daley Center, with its "majestic" interior spaces, is considered a significant example of modernist Chicago architecture.^[4] The main building was designed in the International Style of the Second Chicago School by Jacques Brownson of the firm C. F. Murphy Associates as supervising architects, with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Loebl, Schlossman, Bennett & Dart as associated architects,^[5] and was completed in 1965.^[3] At the time it was the tallest building in Chicago, but only held this title for four years until the John Hancock Center was completed. Originally known as the Chicago Civic Center, the building was renamed for Mayor Daley on December 27, 1976, seven days after his death in office.^[6] The 648-foot (198 m), thirty-one story building features Cor-Ten, a self-weathering steel. Cor-Ten was designed to rust, actually strengthening the structure and giving the building its distinctive red and brown color. The Daley Center has 30 floors above its double height lobby, and is the tallest flat-roofed building in the world with fewer than 40 stories (a typical 648-foot (198 m) building would have 50-60 stories).