John Hancock

News flash! John Hancock Center in Chicago is gone!

John Hancock joined the list of the buildings with a title “formerly known as”. The new name is just the address: 875 North Michigan Avenue.

John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, a developer and original tenant of the building abruptly requested in 2018 to remove its name from the building.

Interesting fact that most people never associated the name of the building with the name of the company.

John Hancock was a prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He is remembered for his large and stylish signature on the United States Declaration of Independence, so much so that the term “John Hancock” has become a synonym of a signature of the United States.

The name belongs to a person, not some lifeless corporation. So, some life insurance company used his name. Who cares?

Let John Hancock Tower be John Hancock, a proud architectural symbol of Chicago.