Sears Tower (Willis Tower) and it's skyline views

Sears Tower is Chicago's most famous office skyscraper, built in 1974. It was recently renamed to Willis Tower, and was the world's tallest building for more then 25 years, 1973-1998, when it surpassed New York's now destroyed One WTC. Sears Tower has 108 floors, a roof height of 442m and is 527m tall to the top of the antenna. It is one of America's most famous landmarks, and was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In 1998 Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur was built, but only bet Sears Tower because their spires were integrated into the strucuture, despite being much shorter then Sears Tower's mast, that was not integrated. Later, Taipei 101 and Burj Khalifa (also by SOM) were built at even greater heights. In 2000, extra height was added to the antenna. There is an observation deck on the 103rd floor, Skydeck Pavilion, that is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Chicago, and was the highlight of our visit. From here you can see Chicago from all sides, Lake Michigan and on clear days into Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan too. Recently, the Skydeck Ledge, glass panels were added on the exterior of the building, right outside the observation deck, so we took the opportunity to walk on glass 103 floors above ground!

The building has 76 single deck and 14 double deck elevators. 25 000 people visit the building every day. Even though it has been renamed after the London based holding firm Willis, most people still refer to it as Sears Tower (Sears Roebuck was the world's largest retailer but has since long abandoned the building, hence the name change). Sears Tower is situated in the Northwest end of the loop, near Chicago River at S Wacker Drive, Adams St and Jackson Blvd. Sears Tower is the landmark of Chicago's skyscrapers. Almost all of them are situated in Downtown, a district that has an area of only about 1 km². Despite being a large metropolis, and being know as the birthplace of the skyscraper, there are very few tall buildings outside the central core. In Chicago, there have, since the late 1980s, been 4 serious attempts to beat Sears Tower in height, but all projects were cancelled because of financial issues. Sears Tower is still the talelst building in the Midwest and the 2nd tallest in the US (after the new One WTC in NY). Currently (2016) it is only the 10th tallest building in the world, but the 2nd tallest in the world outside Asia, and still the tallest building in the US by roof height and number of floors. Congratulations, Sears...sorry, Willis Tower!