1960s
The John Hancock Center at its construction in 1969 was the second tallest building in the world. It is now the 4th tallest skyscraper in Chicago. Perhaps ironically considering Chicago's history with fire – the 1871 Great Chicago Fire – the building is only partially protected by a fire sprinkler system and the residential floors don't have any sprinklers. If someone is ever curious about the building's accessibility for climbers, in 1981, high-rise firefighting and rescue advocate Dan Goodwin did successfully climb the building's exterior wall. The Center has also since constructed added a 360º observatory deck where visitors can walk out on glass and look down below.
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Marina City was built in 1967. Its architect Bertrand Goldberg intended it to be an urban experiment for drawing middle-class Chicagoans back to the city after their decades of migration to the suburbs. The building set a precedent as the first among many residential mixed-use developments in the loop.