July 6, 1964 – The 35-story Equitable
building, now 401 North Michigan Avenue, is topped out in a light rain as a
35-foot white beam with the names of 6,000 Chicagoans written on it is hoisted
into place at the top of the bottom.
Also on the beam is the number 192,113,484, corresponding to the population
of the United States at this time. The
building, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in the mid-century modern
style, is already 75 percent rented. At
a luncheon for about 200 civic and business leaders at the Sheraton Chicago
Hotel, James F. Coates, the chairman of the Equitable Life Assurance Company of
the United States, says that the landscaped area to be built south of Tribune
Tower and in front of the Equitable building will be “the most beautiful in the
world.” [Chicago Tribune, July 7, 1964]
Currently the trees that have stood in that area for 42 years have all
been cut down and the area itself is surrounded by fencing as construction
begins on the new Apple store that will sit in the plaza in front of the
building. In the above photo 401 North Michigan rises to the left behind famed broadcaster Jack Brickhouse and J. Seward Johnson's sculpture, Forever Marilyn, a temporary visitor to the city in 2012.
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