On May 25, 1973, the Sears Tower opened to visitors for the first time. Construction on the tower had taken about two years to complete but the building itself is nearly 100 years younger than its neighboring architecture. The Sears Tower’s conception dates back to 1957 when Sears Roebuck & Company began buying up office space in Chicago. The company quickly outgrew its existing building, the Merchandise Mart, and began working with architect Bruce Graham to create a new headquarters that would be an icon for their brand name.
The Sears Tower was built by James Ingersoll. Partially completed in May of 1970, the building was officially opened on May 25th, 1973, at a cost of $150 million.
How much did it cost to build the sears tower
On May 25, 1973, the Sears Tower officially opened. It was the tallest building in the world until 1998, when it was overtaken by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The tower’s construction cost $150 million in 1970 dollars — which would be about $1 billion today.
It took only 41 months to build the tower after construction began on August 5, 1967. During that time there were three fatalities: two iron workers who fell while installing a crane on floor 108 and one worker who was crushed between two pieces of steel while installing a communications antenna on floor 107.
The Sears Tower cost $150 million to build, a cost that included the land, labor and materials. The building opened in 1973 and was sold to British insurance company Willis Group Holdings Ltd. in 2004 for $840 million.
The 1,454-foot skyscraper was built by the Chicago-based Sears Roebuck & Co., which had been looking for a new headquarters spot since it was planning to move out of its 110-story tower at 233 South Wacker Drive in 1992. In December 1970, Sears announced plans to build a new high-rise building at 444 N. Lake Shore Drive (renamed 400 S. Wabash Ave.). The tower would be taller than New York City’s Empire State Building (1,250 feet), making it the tallest building in the world.
Construction began on May 2, 1971, with the demolition of three buildings on the site: The Prudential Building at 401 N. Michigan Ave., the Chicago Athletic Association Building at 410 N. Michigan Ave., and a parking garage between both buildings that had been used by employees of both buildings; all three buildings were designed by Holabird & Root Architects and built between 1887 and 1921
The Sears Tower was built in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1960s. It was completed in 1973, making it the tallest building in the world at that time. The Sears Tower has 110 stories, stands 1,450 feet (442 meters) high and is 1,729 feet (527 meters) long.
The construction of the tower cost $150 million (about $1 billion today). It took 3 million man-hours to construct the tower and its various features.
The building has three main sections: a four-story base building, a nine-story service shaft and a 99-story office building with an observatory on top of it all.
When it opened in May 1973 it had more than 500 elevators within its walls – each capable of carrying up to 50 people at once – making it one of the most complex buildings ever constructed by man!
The Sears Tower is a 108-story, 1,450-foot (442 m) skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. When it was completed in 1973, it was the world’s tallest building for 24 years. It is currently the second tallest building in the United States, after One World Trade Center. The Willis Tower has 103 floors and rises 1,451 feet (442 m) tall.
The tower was designed by chief architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM). They came up with a unique design that included a tubular steel core surrounded by a triangular perimeter frame. This was meant to maximize floor space while providing necessary support for the building’s antenna and other mechanical systems.
The construction process began in August 1966 when crews began demolishing buildings immediately adjacent to the site in order to make room for construction equipment. The first step was to build the foundation, which consisted of 76 caissons that were sunk 100 feet into the ground to provide a stable base for the building’s weight. Each caisson weighed 450 tons and had its own pumping system so that work could continue during rainstorms or other weather conditions that might cause flooding on site.
The Willis Tower, formerly named Sears Tower, is a 110-story mega tower in downtown Chicago. It is the tallest building in the western hemisphere and the second-tallest building in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. It serves as the headquarters for Sears Holdings Corporation.
It was designed by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM). The tower was built by Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company with M.A. Mortenson Company serving as a construction manager on behalf of developer Sears Roebuck and Company.
The building has four observation decks: Skydeck on the 103rd floor; Skydeck on the 102nd floor; Skydome on the 94th floor; and Cloud City Cafe on the 95th floor. The Skydeck houses a lounge called 360 Chicago, which provides views of Chicago from a height of 1,353 feet (412 m). The Cloud City Café is located at 1,353 feet above ground level.
The two towers are joined by a skybridge over South Wacker Drive that links to an underground shopping mall adjacent to Michigan Avenue known as River North Point Center, which opened in 2004
how many died building sears tower
On July 21, 1973, construction workers laid the final beam at the top of the Sears Tower. On May 13, 1974, it was officially renamed Willis Tower in honor of insurance broker Willis Group Holdings (now Willis Towers Watson). Since then, more than 30 people have died on its construction site and over 1,400 injuries have been reported. While this might seem like a high number for such a large project, it’s actually lower than average for a skyscraper of its size. The completion of the Shard in London saw 32 deaths during construction and 2 more since opening day in 2012.
The deaths at Sears Tower are attributed to several different causes: falling objects or equipment; falls from great heights; heart attacks; suicide attempts; electrocution; and other types of accidents. The most common cause was falls from great heights — 23 workers died due to falling objects or equipment while working on this project. The second most common cause was heart attacks — 12 workers suffered fatal heart attacks while working on this project.
Electrocution has also proven to be a problem at Chicago’s tallest building — 9 workers were killed
The Sears Tower is in the heart of Chicago, Illinois and was built in 1973. It is 1,451 feet tall and is the tallest building in the United States.
The cost of the Sears Tower was $200 million to build it. That equates to about $1 billion by today’s standards. There were 30 people who died during construction of the tower, but not all on site at once.
The current owner of the building is a company called The Blackstone Group LP, which purchased the building in 2004 for $840 million dollars.
In the mid-’60s, Sears Tower was built. The building was designed by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan. It took three years to build the tower at a cost of $30 million.
During construction, two workers died and several others were injured. One worker fell to his death while installing a window on the 92nd floor. A second worker fell off scaffolding while installing roof panels on the 85th floor. Because of these incidents, work on the tower was temporarily halted until safety measures could be put into place.
In June 1975, it was renamed Sears Tower after Sears Roebuck & Company purchased the naming rights for $10 million over 20 years. The renaming occurred after an agreement between Sears and its competitor Montgomery Ward, which had also been considered for renaming rights but dropped out of contention in 1972 when it was purchased by Carson Pirie Scott & Co., which already owned retail stores in Chicago
The Sears Tower is 1,450 feet high. It contains 120 floors and is the tallest building in the United States, as well as the tallest building in North America. The tower has 103 elevators and over 6,000 windows. It was completed in 1973, after 10 years of construction.
The Sears Tower was designed by Fazlur Rahman Khan and Bruce Graham of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
Construction on the Sears Tower began in May 1966 and continued until 1973. The building’s foundation reaches down 200 feet below street level into solid bedrock, making it one of the most stable buildings in Chicago. In fact, it was designed to withstand winds of up to 130 miles per hour and earthquakes with magnitudes up to 8.5 on the Richter scale – that’s stronger than any recorded earthquake in Chicago history!
There are 2,500 windows in the Sears Tower, which are more than double the number of windows in the Empire State Building.
The Sears Tower was designed by Fazlur Khan and Bruce Graham, who also designed the John Hancock Center in Chicago as well as the World Trade Center towers in New York City.
The Sears Tower is a great place to visit if you are looking for a thrill because it has many observation decks where you can stand on the edge and look down at Chicago from above!