Architecture and Design Atlas

How Space Is Shaped
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Buildings and Structures

John Hancock Tower

Commercial and Office Buildings

The John Hancock Tower, later renamed 200 Clarendon Street, is a 60 story, 790 foot office skyscraper in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, designed by Henry N. Cobb of I. M. Pei and Partners and built from 1968 to 1976. Its parallelogram floor plan carries the largest panes of glass then achievable with minimal mullions, giving the tower's blue tinted reflective facade a subtle contrast against the sky, while vertical notches on its short sides emphasize its height, long the tallest building in New England. The tower gained notoriety soon after completion for structural flaws, including failures of its glass panes and concerns about the building's resistance to certain wind conditions, problems that were eventually resolved, and it later received the American Institute of Architects' National Honor Award in 1977 and Twenty Five Year Award in 2011.

Facts
Building TypeSourced to the subject's own account
Office 1
LocationSourced to the subject's own account
Boston, United States 2
Completed YearSourced to the subject's own account
1976 1
Height (m)Sourced to the subject's own account
241 2
Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account
Standing 1
Building Type
Building Type (category)Sourced to the subject's own account
Skyscraper 2
Connections

Has Building Type

Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.

In Style

Source John Hancock Tower (Wikipedia)

Uses Element

Source John Hancock Tower (Wikipedia)
Source John Hancock Tower (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. John Hancock Tower (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Entity description and the lead/infobox of the Wikipedia article
    The John Hancock Tower, later renamed 200 Clarendon Street, is a 60 story, 790 foot office skyscraper in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, designed by Henry N. Cobb of I. M. Pei and Partners and built from 1968 to 1976. Its parallelogram floor plan carries the largest panes of glass then achievable with minimal mullions, giving the tower's blue tinted reflective facade a subtle contrast against the sky, while vertical notches on its short sides emphasize its height, long the tallest building in New England. The tower gained notoriety soon after completion for structural flaws, including failures of its glass panes and concerns about the building's resistance to certain wind conditions, problems that were eventually resolved, and it later received the American Institute of Architects' National Honor Award in 1977 and Twenty Five Year Award in 2011.
  • Wikipedia infobox completion_date/completed/built field (1976)
    completion_date/completed = 1976
  • Wikipedia infobox building_type field (Office)
    building_type = Office
  • In Style: Modernist Architecture, Wikipedia categories
    Category:Modernist architecture in Massachusetts
  • Uses Element: Glass, Wikipedia article
    There were problems with the use of blue reflective glass in a steel tower: entire windowpanes, and , detached from the building and crashed to the sidewalk hundreds of feet below.
  • Uses Element: Steel, Wikipedia article
    There were problems with the use of blue reflective glass in a steel tower: entire windowpanes, and , detached from the building and crashed to the sidewalk hundreds of feet below.
View the Source
2. John Hancock Tower (Wikidata)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Wikidata height (P2048) statement: 241.0
    Wikidata item Q798416, property P2048 (height): 241.0 m (converted to metres, preferred/normal rank, non-deprecated)
  • Wikidata located-in-admin-entity (P131) / country (P17) statement: Boston, United States
    Wikidata item Q798416, property P131/P17 (location): Boston, United States
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.