The Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, 1,450-foot (442.1 m) skyscraper in Chicago. The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building's owners count the main roof as 109 and the mechanical penthouse roof as 110. At completion in 1974, it surpassed the World Trade Center in New York City to become the tallest building in the world, a title that it held for nearly 25 years. It was also the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere for 41 years, until the One World Trade Center surpassed it in 2013, and had the highest occupiable floor until surpassed by the Central Park Tower in 2022.
Willis Tower is considered a seminal achievement for engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan. It is currently the third-tallest building in the United States and the Western hemisphere – and the 23rd-tallest in the world. Each year, more than one million people visit its observation deck, the highest in the United States, making it one of Chicago's most popular tourist destinations.
As of April 2018, the building's largest tenant is United Airlines, which moved its corporate headquarters from 77 West Wacker Drive (then the United Building) in 2012, occupying around 20 floors. Other major tenants include the building's namesake Willis Towers Watson and law firms Schiff Hardin and Seyfarth Shaw. Morgan Stanley became the building's fourth-largest tenant in 2017.Known as the Sears Tower from its construction until the naming rights were included in a 2009 lease with the Willis Group, it served as the headquarters of retail company Sears from 1974 to 1994. Local area residents still refer to the building by its old name.
1973May, 3
The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world's tallest building.
Choose Another Date
Events on 1973
- 20Jul
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee, the famous Chinese actor and martial-arts expert, dies in Los Angeles at age 32 from a brain edema possibly caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller. - 15Aug
Cambodia
Vietnam War: The United States bombing of Cambodia ends. - 22Aug
Salvador Allende
The Congress of Chile votes in favour of a resolution condemning President Salvador Allende's government and demands that he resign or else be unseated through force and new elections. - 17Oct
1973 oil crisis
OPEC imposes an oil embargo against a number of Western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Egypt and Syria. - 4Nov
1973 oil crisis
The Netherlands experiences the first Car-Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.