James R. Thompson Center

Common card · No. 379617

The James R. Thompson Center (being redeveloped as the Thompson Center and originally the State of Illinois Center) is a postmodern-style office building at 100 W. Randolph Street in the Loop district of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Helmut Jahn around a post-modernist rotunda, it was built to house offices of the Illinois state government in Chicago. The building occupies an entire block bounded by Randolph, Lake, Clark and LaSalle streets. Prior to the development of the State of Illinois Center, many offices of the government of Illinois were housed at 160 North LaSalle Street. Governor James R. Thompson allocated funding for the State of Illinois Center in 1978, and Jahn was selected as the architect, announcing his plans in 1980. The building opened in 1985 after several delays and a construction accident that killed five people. It was renamed for Thompson in 1993. By the 2000s, the building was functionally outdated, prompting three successive governors...

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