311 South Wacker
The tower with the glowing white crown.
Key facts
- Completed 1990
- Officially 311 South Wacker Drive
- Stands 961 ft tall
- Topped by an illuminated cylindrical "crown"
- Its crown glows with hundreds of light tubes
Narration transcript
Right beside the Willis Tower, on your right, look for the building with the beautiful glowing crown on top. That is 311 South Wacker Drive, completed in 1990. While it stands in the shadow of its taller, more famous neighbor, this tower is a star in its own right, especially after dark. Its most striking feature is the top, where the building is capped by a great cylindrical crown, a lantern-like structure that lights up at night with hundreds of glowing tubes. On foggy or snowy evenings, that crown seems to float like a magical beacon over the city, and it is one of the most romantic sights on the skyline. At nine hundred and sixty-one feet, it is a serious skyscraper, and it was designed to feel graceful and elegant rather than to break any height records. Family tip: this is a building best remembered for the night sky, so if you are out in the evening, look for the softly glowing white crown and see if the kids can pick it out among all the towers. During the holidays it is sometimes lit in festive colors.