Grant Thornton Tower

The Grant Thornton Tower is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and built between 1990 and 1992 in Chicago, IL.

Grant Thornton Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The Grant Thornton Tower is also known, or has been known as, Chicago Title & Trust Center, 161 North Clark, or Chicago Title Tower.

Its precise street address is 161-171 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

In 1990 the Grant Thornton Tower was awarded with the The Chicago Athenaeum's .

The original design for the building included plans for a twin tower at 181 N. Clark Street. However, these plans were abandoned twice: first, following the completion of the initial tower, and later in 2001, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Today, the site intended for the second tower is occupied by a multi-level parking structure, leaving open the possibility of future development.

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Grant Thornton Tower a reality:

• Severud-Szegezdy Associates in charge of Structural Engineering
• Linpro Company as the Main Developer

The Grant Thornton Tower can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

The Grant Thornton Tower was completed in 1992. By 1992 the Postmodernism movement was experiencing a transition. Critics argued that Postmodernism, initially a rebellious and innovative style, had become formulaic and commercialized, and so the trend started moving away from blending historical styles, irony, and playful ornamentation, and begun to give way to emerging architectural trends concerned with more present matters such as technology, ecology or sustainability.

The Grant Thornton Tower uses a frame structure made of reinforced concrete columns and beams.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade of the building however, is load bearing. This doesn't imply that it is a traditional load-bearing wall. Rather, it means that the structure's exterior pillars have been pushed to the very edges, becoming integrated with the facade, and therefore, technically, a part of it.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a blend of materials, including grey and white Sardinian granite, which provides both durability and a timeless elegance. Coated aluminum elements add a modern touch to the design, while the extensive use of clear glass enhances transparency and fills the interior spaces with natural light.

The building's most distinctive element is its crowning, composed of three spires that illuminate at night, serving as a distinctive and iconic contribution to the Chicago skyline.