How is the John Hancock Building famous?

Answer 1

The John Hancock Center at 875 N. Michigan Ave. in Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot (344 m) tall skyscraper designed by structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. When completed in 1969, it was the tallest building in the world outside New York City. One of the most famous buildings of the structural expressionist style, the skyscraper's distinctive X-bracing exterior is actually a hint that the structure's skin is indeed part of its 'tubular system'.

In Chicago, one of the most controversial buildings in this birthplace of skyscrapers is believed by Chicago paranormal experts to have a much more malicious quality. Since its completion in 1968, the John Hancock Center has been the site of multiple murders, suicides and deadly "accidents." Why? Windy City occultists are convinced that it is the very design of the place that causes its residents and workers to often take a turn for the worst.

The John Hancock Center was designed as a trapezoidal structure by its chief architect, Bruce Graham, under the counsel of Fazlur Khan, a structural engineer at the esteemed Chicago firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Khan proposed the shape as an economical way to combine larger office spaces on the lower floors with smaller apartment units on the upper levels. But it wasn't long before some Chicagoans began to question the "innocent" trapezoidal design as a poor one.

A little over three years after the Hancock's completion, a 29-year-old Chicago woman named Lorraine Kowalski fell to her death from her boyfriend's 90th-floor Hancock Center apartment. To this day, detectives are dumbfounded by the event; the building's windows are capable of withstanding more than 200 pounds of pressure per square foot and winds of more than 150 miles per hour, yet Kowalski actually broke through the glass. Four years later, a transmitter technician for a local radio station plunged to his death from the 97th floor offices of his television station. Just three months later, a 27-year old tenant "fell" from his 91st-floor apartment while studying for an exam at breakfast. In 1978, a 31-year old woman shot a man to death in his home on the Hancock's 65th floor, and in 1998, beloved comedian Chris Farley was found dead in the entrance hall of his 60th-floor apartment. Most recently, in March of 2002, a 25-foot aluminum scaffold fell from the building's 43rd floor, crushing three cars, killing three women and injuring 8 others. All of these incidents were called "baffling," "inexplicable" and seemingly unmotivated by detectives and journalists.

The Hancock center offers both apartments and offices, and all of the apartments are on the outer edge of the structure, wrapping around the outside as in any other such building. Unfortunately, in the Hancock, every one of these apartments has, due to the trapezoidal structure of the building, an outer wall that is "off-kilter" because it does not rise at 90 degrees. Many--LaVey among them--have believed that these "strange angles" have caused residents of the Hancock to behave in strange and deadly ways, and that the superhuman strength of those who have forced themselves or others through the building's seemingly impenetrable windows were calling on a ready supply of supernatural energy in the Hancock itself: energy coming through the "portal" of its trapezoidal structure.

Students of popular culture will want to note three intriguing facts about the Hancock. First, the structure's legend inspired Harold Ramis's Hollywood dream of a diabolical building: the centerpiece of his film, "Ghostbusters." Second, the late, little Heather O'Rourke, myth-shrouded star of the "Poltergeist" films, took a turn for the worst after a final publicity plug . . . held in one of the Hancock's studios. Third, a number of controversial or distressed personalities have called the Hancock home; among them, talk show host Jerry Springer, Catholic priest and novelist Andrew Greeley, and--as mentioned--comedian Farley, whose time in the building was riddled with drug and alcohol abuse, the eventual cause of his death.

Answer 2

FAZLUR KHAN of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.

Answer 3

The John Hancock building is located in Chicago, Illinois and is a great place for shopping and dining. It is located at the address, 875 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611.

Answer 4

John Hancock Tower was created in 1976.