The James R. Thompson Center is a glass-walled drum that curves eighteen stories into the Chicago skyline. Designed by Helmut Jahn and opened in nineteen eighty-five, it replaced the old Bismarck Hotel and a grand federal courthouse. Its cavernous atrium allows people on every floor to see the activity of the lobby, a design choice intended to mirror the transparency of government. When the building opened, the interior grew so hot in the summer that employees famously wore hats and sunglasses at their desks.
James R. Thompson Center
other
The audio tour continues in the Mira app →