2018

35 East Wacker, also known as the Jewelers’ Building, is a 40-story 159.4 m (523 ft) historic building in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois, United States, located at the intersections of Wabash Avenue, and facing the Chicago River. It was built from 1925 to 1927, and was co-designed by Joachim G. Giaver and Frederick P. Dinkelberg. It was once considered to be the tallest building in the world outside New York City. Formerly the Pure Oil Building and North American Life Insurance Building, 35 East Wacker was listed in 1978 as a contributing property to the Michigan–Wacker Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 9, 1994. For its first 14 years, the building had a car lift that served the first 23 floors and facilitated safe transfers for jewelry merchants. Currently, the French-American Chamber of Commerce in Chicago is a tenant, and the showroom of architect Helmut Jahn was atop the building inside the dome, which was also once a restaurant called the Stratosphere Club, often erroneously said to be run by Al Capone. (In reality, the Stratosphere Club opened in 1937, long after Capone was imprisoned and too late for the building to have been an illegal speakeasy). The building is currently being renovated, by Goettsch Partners, and the facade is being maintained, but the interiors converted into a more modern configuration. Both the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the City of Chicago have recognized the renovation project with awards.