Tribune Tower

The Tribune Tower's story began in 1922 when the Chicago Tribune hosted an international design competition to create the most beautiful office building in the world. With a $100,000 prize on the line, architects from around the globe submitted 263 entries. The winning design by John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood was a stunning Neo-Gothic skyscraper inspired by the Butter Tower of the Rouen Cathedral in France. Completed in 1925, the building became an immediate landmark of the Chicago skyline, blending medieval aesthetics with modern skyscraper engineering. Beyond its soaring height and ornate crown, the tower is famous for its unique collection of stones embedded in the exterior walls. Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the newspaper's longtime editor and publisher, tasked correspondents with bringing back fragments from historical sites around the world. Today, visitors can touch pieces of the Great Wall of China, the Parthenon, the Taj Mahal, and even the original tomb of Abraham Lincoln, all integrated into the building's limestone facade at street level. For nearly a century, the tower served as the bustling headquarters for the Chicago Tribune, witnessing the evolution of American journalism through the Great Depression and multiple world wars. In 2018, the newspaper moved its offices, and the building underwent a massive transformation into luxury residential condominiums. Despite this change in use, the historic exterior and the iconic 'Chicago Tribune' sign remain meticulously preserved, serving as a testament to the city's rich architectural and media heritage.