Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Seminar für Übersetzen und Dolmetschen

Hauptseminar: ,,City of Chicago" (Sommersemester 2008)

The Sears Tower

Verfasser: Carina Klehr

Heidelberg, den 24. Juni 2008

I. Introduction

The Sears Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Chicago, but also

in the United States. Moreover, it has been the world′s tallest

building from 1973-1998. Located in the heart of Chicago Down-

town, also called the "West Loop" ­ the city′s premier submarket

and home to its largest corporations and commuter rail stations ­

the Sears Tower today occupies a significant position in Chi-

cago′s city center.

The first skyscrapers were invented in the late 1800s and Chi-

cago has played a major role in the invention. It has been the site

of many of the skyscrapers′ stylistic and technical advances. In

the phenomenal growth years after the Chicago Fire of 1871, a

pool of architectural talent known as the First Chicago School

advanced the skyscraper form we know now. This is the reason

why the city is also known as "the birthplace of skyscrapers".

II. Idea and planning

All started in the late 1960s, when Sears, Roebuck & Company, the world′s largest re-

tailer with about 350,000 employees at that time, decided to consolidate its administrative

operations into one building on the western edge of Chicago′s Loop. The company needed

300,000 m² of office space for its 13,000 employees in their major departments.

The first architects proposed a tower with a boxy structure which would have large

5,000 m² floors in the lower part of the building. But the real estate advisors voted for a taller

tower for their headquarters to build something special. So in July 1970, the plans for the

building slowly stretched to 420,000 m². According to Sears, it should be "as tall as the FAA

will let us go." (The so-called Federal Aviation Administration is an American agency with

regulates the air traffic in the United States.)

A quotation from Bruce Graham, one of Sears′ architectural creators, shows the com-

pany′s sophisticated plans:

"

Tall buildings are man-made. Towers have historically been not only the pride of
their temporary owners, but of their cities as well. So the Sears Tower, one more
mountain, was created for this city on the plains [...], but unlike most tall buildings in
New York, it is a tower of the people, not the palace of a bank.

"

III. Construction

Construction commenced in August 1970, and the building reached its originally antici-

pated maximum height on May 3, 1973. Commissioned by Sears, Roebuck and Company, it

was designed by chief architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of the

architectural and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. When completed, the Sears

Tower had overtaken the roof of the World Trade Center in New York City as the world′s

tallest building, which just got the title a few months ago. The tower finally had 110 stories,

including the main roof and the mechanical penthouse. Its total height, measured from the east

entrance, amounted to 442 m without antennas.

However, Sears′ optimistic growth projections never came to pass. Not only competition

from traditional rivals like Wal-Mart continued, but also the fortunes of Sears & Roebuck

declined in the 1970s due to lost stock transactions. Moreover, the Sears Tower itself was not

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