The Tower

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tower stands watch over the entire Homan Square campus. The 252 foot tower was built as part of the Sears Catalog Building providing an entrance to the Catalog facility, studios for WLS radio and office space. Notably, the fourteenth floor was open space for receptions, the twelfth floor contained water tanks with a capacity of 200,000 gallons for fire water storage, the eleventh floor contained the radio studios, the first and second floors were reception areas and the remaining floors were office space.

Looking to identify a productive new use for the Tower, the Foundation for Homan Square is researching potential users such as possible arts, culture, job training and youth development partners. The Tower is currently undergoing some preventative maintenance. For the past 10 months, the Tower has been surrounded by 12-stories of scaffolding while crews tuck-point the Tower’s more than 100-year old brick façade. By spring of 2012, the building’s ornate terra cotta and brick will be restored to its original beauty, ready for another 100 years of service.