The Wrigley Building, located at 400–410 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, is an iconic architectural landmark on the city’s Magnificent Mile. Completed in 1924, it was commissioned by William Wrigley Jr., founder of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Chewing Gum Company, as the company’s global headquarters. Designed by the architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, the building is a masterpiece of Beaux-Arts and Spanish Colonial Revival styles, renowned for its gleaming white terra-cotta facade, distinctive clock tower, and elegant symmetry. Situated at the gateway to Michigan Avenue, across from the Tribune Tower and near the Chicago River, it anchors the city’s historic commercial district. The Wrigley Building’s cultural and architectural significance earned it designation as a Chicago Landmark in 2012, and it remains a symbol of Chicago’s early 20th-century ambition and aesthetic innovation. Today, it houses corporate offices, retail spaces, and public amenities, blending historic charm with modern functionality.
Origins and Vision (Late 19th–Early 20th Century)
The Wrigley
Building's story begins with William Wrigley Jr. (1861–1932), the
chewing gum magnate who transformed a modest premium giveaway into a
global empire. Born in Philadelphia, Wrigley arrived in Chicago in 1891
at age 30 with just $32. He initially sold soap and baking powder,
bundling packets of chewing gum as incentives. When customers preferred
the gum, he pivoted entirely, launching iconic brands like Juicy Fruit
(1893) and Spearmint (1893). Aggressive advertising—billboards, magazine
ads, and premiums—made Wrigley a multimillionaire and one of America's
wealthiest men by the 1910s. He also owned the Chicago Cubs (from 1916)
and California's Catalina Island.
Wrigley's vision for a grand
headquarters was shaped by Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition,
whose gleaming "White City" of illuminated plaster buildings left a
lasting impression. He wanted his new offices to evoke that luminous,
classical elegance on a permanent scale.
In 1919, anticipating Daniel
Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago—which called for widening Michigan Avenue
north of the river and building a new double-deck bridge—Wrigley quietly
acquired a swampy, irregularly shaped parcel at the river's bend for
about $217,000. At the time, the area north of the Chicago River was
industrial and undeveloped; the Michigan–Wacker district was warehouses
and docks. Wrigley's purchase was a bold bet that the new Michigan
Avenue Bridge (opened 1920, now DuSable Bridge) would transform the area
into a premier boulevard.
Construction and Opening (1920–1924)
Groundbreaking: 1920, while the Michigan Avenue Bridge was still under
construction.
South tower completed: April/May 1921—it was briefly
the tallest building north of the river and fully leased before opening.
North tower completed: May 1924.
Total cost: approximately $10–12
million (a massive sum at the time).
The building instantly
became a symbol of Chicago's northward expansion. When the south tower
opened, it stood virtually alone, gleaming white against the industrial
riverfront—a postcard image that signaled the birth of what would become
the Magnificent Mile.
Innovations and Cultural Role (1920s–2010)
The Wrigley Building pioneered several features:
Chicago’s first
air-conditioned office building.
Early radio broadcasting studios
(including WMAQ).
Modern art exhibitions and high-end retail on the
ground floor.
It remained Wrigley Company headquarters for nearly
90 years. William Wrigley Jr. died in 1932; his son Philip K. Wrigley
and later grandson William Wrigley III ran the company. The gum business
was sold to Mars, Inc. in 2008 for $23 billion.
The building appeared
in films (giant grasshoppers climb it in the 1957 B-movie Beginning of
the End) and songs (Frank Sinatra name-checks it in “My Kind of Town”).
Ownership Changes and Restoration (2011–Present)
In 2011, after
Mars moved remaining employees to Goose Island, the Wrigley family sold
the building for ~$33 million to a consortium led by BDT Capital
Partners (Byron Trott), Zeller Realty Group, and Groupon co-founders
Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. In 2019, Chicago billionaire Joe
Mansueto (Morningstar founder and owner of the Chicago Fire soccer club)
became sole owner.
The new owners invested heavily in
restoration:
Replaced over 2,000 windows.
Modernized elevators,
HVAC, and life-safety systems.
Added retail (Walgreens, Starbucks), a
fitness center, and a plaza with river views.
In 2012, the
building received official Chicago Landmark status. A multi-year
exterior cleaning and terra-cotta repair returned it to its original
brilliance.
Legacy
The Wrigley Building is more than an office
tower; it catalyzed the Magnificent Mile, proved terra-cotta could be
both beautiful and practical at height, and remains one of Chicago’s
most beloved and photographed landmarks. A century after its south tower
opened, it still gleams as brightly as William Wrigley Jr.
dreamed—testament to a chewing-gum fortune, visionary urban planning,
and timeless architecture.
Architects and Design Influences
Designed by the prominent Chicago
architectural firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White—successors to the
legendary D.H. Burnham & Co.—the Wrigley Building was led by chief
designer Charles Gerhard Beersman. The design draws heavily from the
Giralda Tower of Seville's Cathedral in Spain, evident in the south
tower's intricate silhouette, while incorporating French Renaissance
ornamental details adapted to an American context. This blend results in
a Beaux-Arts Classicism style with elements of Spanish Colonial Revival,
reflecting the influence of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition (the
"White City"), which popularized neoclassical aesthetics in Chicago.
Beersman's vision combined historical references with modern steel-frame
construction, creating a structure that was both ornate and functional,
adhering to the city's 400-foot height limit at the time (the south
tower reaches just two feet shy of it). The building represents the
pinnacle of pre-Depression era opulence in Chicago architecture, often
compared to New York's Woolworth Building as the Midwest's equivalent.
Structural Details
The Wrigley Building consists of two connected
towers: the south tower, completed in 1921, rises to 30 stories and 425
feet (130 meters) to its roof, with an overall height of 438 feet
including the antenna spire; the north tower, finished in 1924, is 21
stories tall. The south tower features a trapezoidal base to maximize
the angular site, topped by a 12-story clock tower. The towers are
linked by open-air walkways at ground level, the third floor, and a
14th-floor connection added in 1931 to facilitate office reorganization.
This dual-tower configuration creates a unified yet asymmetrical
composition, with a total leasable area of approximately 453,433 square
feet. Internally, it was Chicago's first air-conditioned office
building, incorporating modern amenities for its era. The structure
employs a steel skeleton frame, a hallmark of Chicago School
architecture, allowing for its height while supporting elaborate
exterior cladding.
Materials and Facade
The building's most
striking feature is its gleaming white facade, clad in over 250,000
individual pieces of glazed architectural terra cotta in six varying
shades of white, which create subtle depth and shadow play under
different lighting conditions. This material choice not only evokes the
"White City" aesthetic but also requires periodic hand-washing to
maintain its brilliance, as the glaze can accumulate urban grime. The
terra cotta is highly ornamented with French Renaissance motifs,
including intricate friezes, balustrades, and sculptural elements like
garlands, shields, and figurative reliefs along the cornices and
setbacks. At night, floodlights illuminate the facade, enhancing its
iconic glow against the city skyline.
Notable Features
Clock
Tower: The south tower's crown includes a prominent clock with four
faces, each 19 feet 7 inches (5.97 meters) in diameter, visible from all
directions and serving as a landmark for the Magnificent Mile.
Ornamentation: Lavish terra-cotta detailing includes neoclassical
elements like columns, arches, and pinnacles, with the Giralda-inspired
tower featuring tiered setbacks and a spire.
Plaza and Park: A
central plaza between the towers opens to a secluded park overlooking
the Chicago River, accessible via the main entrances, providing a public
space amid the urban density.
Unique Design Choices: The building's
angular adaptation to its site, combined with its radiant facade, was
intended to symbolize salesmanship and innovation, housing not just
offices but also cultural hubs like art galleries and broadcast studios
in its heyday.
Renovations and Modern Updates
Sold in 2011 to
a group including Zeller Realty Group and Groupon co-founders, and later
to billionaire Joe Mansueto in 2019, the building has undergone
sensitive restorations to preserve its historic integrity while
modernizing for contemporary tenants. Key updates include the 2014
addition of amenities such as a Walgreens, coffee shop, fitness center,
and nursing room. A comprehensive renovation by Goettsch Partners
focused on the exterior, lobbies, and plaza, restoring original features
like bronze doors and marble interiors while upgrading mechanical
systems. These efforts have maintained the Wrigley Building's status as
a Chicago icon, blending its Beaux-Arts heritage with 21st-century
functionality.
The Visionary Behind the Icon: William Wrigley Jr.'s Larger-Than-Life
Legacy
At the heart of the building's legends is William Wrigley Jr.
himself, a relentless promoter and entrepreneur whose story reads like a
rags-to-riches American myth. Born in Philadelphia in 1861, Wrigley
moved to Chicago in 1891 and initially sold soap and baking powder.
Legend has it that he stumbled into the gum business accidentally:
customers preferred the free chewing gum he bundled with his products
over the items themselves, prompting him to pivot entirely to gum
production. By 1911, he had founded the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, turning
brands like Spearmint and Juicy Fruit into global sensations through
innovative advertising. Wrigley was known for his personal charisma and
vendor relationships, but his promotional zeal extended to
architecture—he envisioned the building not just as offices but as a
glowing advertisement for his brand, floodlit at night to dazzle
passersby.
One enduring anecdote highlights Wrigley's audacious
personality: Journalists from the neighboring Tribune Tower (completed
in 1925) anticipated a garish, Times Square-style spectacle, perhaps
with a massive "WRIGLEY" sign emblazoned across the facade. Instead,
Wrigley opted for understated elegance, a decision that contrasted
sharply with his bold business style and added to the building's
mystique. Another tale underscores the era's industrial grime: The white
terra-cotta exterior, while beautiful, attracted so much soot from
nearby coal-burning factories that it required scrubbing several times a
year to maintain its luster. This "eternal shine" became a symbol of
Chicago's resilience, with the building often likened to a "bright
butterfly by day and luminous moth by night" in local writings.
The Unsung Architect and the Mythical Design Influence
The building's
design is attributed to Charles Gerhard Beersman, a relatively obscure
architect from the firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, whose story
has gained legendary status thanks to recent scholarship. Beersman,
often overshadowed by more famous contemporaries, crafted a structure
that was innovative for its time, incorporating irregular angles to hug
the river's old paths rather than conforming to the city grid. This
"askew" layout, as some describe it, gives the building a whimsical,
almost enchanted quality, as if it emerged organically from the
landscape.
Adding a layer of whimsy is a satirical local myth from
Chicago artist and blogger Matt Maldre, who in 2014 spun a tale about
the "White-out Monster," an immortal, white creature that allegedly
influenced the building's all-white aesthetic. According to this
fictional legend, in 1920, Wrigley planned to use Indiana limestone, but
the White-out Monster appeared to architect Howard Judson White (a play
on the firm's name) and convinced him to switch to glazed white
terra-cotta, ensuring the entire edifice was "set in white." While
clearly tongue-in-cheek, this story has circulated in Chicago's art and
architecture circles as a playful nod to the building's pristine, almost
otherworldly appearance, blending fact with fantasy in true urban legend
fashion.
Cultural Nexus: Legends of Art, Music, and Media
Beyond its architecture, the Wrigley Building's legends stem from its
role as an unintended cultural incubator during Chicago's Jazz Age and
beyond. It housed pioneering radio stations like WBBM-AM for over 25
years, broadcasting everything from live music to news, making it a hub
for the city's early media boom. Stories abound of legendary broadcasts
and recordings: The building's studios captured tracks by Chicago blues
icons, country stars like Roy Acuff and the Carter Family, and even
Peggy Lee's first records—supposedly near the adult diaper section of
today's ground-floor Walgreens. This musical heritage has fueled tales
of the building as a "ghostly echo chamber" for Chicago's sonic past,
though no actual hauntings are reported.
The structure also hosted
modernist art exhibitions and was home to advertising innovators like
Dorothy and Otis Shepard, the husband-and-wife team behind Wrigley's ads
and Chicago Cubs branding. One quirky legend ties into neighboring
inventions: Kraft Mac & Cheese was reportedly developed next door,
adding to the narrative of the Magnificent Mile as a cradle of American
consumer culture. More broadly, the building is portrayed in recent
works like the 2025 book The Wrigley Building: The Making of an Icon by
Robert Sharoff and William Zbaren as a "crossroads of America" in the
"most American city," intertwining art, architecture, sports, and
business narratives.
Pop Culture Immortality: Giant Grasshoppers
and Cinematic Fame
In pop culture, the Wrigley Building achieved
legendary status through its appearance in the 1957 B-movie Beginning of
the End, where giant, radiation-mutated grasshoppers scale its facade in
a climactic scene set in Chicago. This campy tale of atomic-age horror
has become a cult favorite among Chicagoans, symbolizing the building's
resilience in the face of fictional apocalypse. It's often cited in
local film lore as an early example of the city serving as a backdrop
for sci-fi mayhem, predating more famous destructions like those in The
Blues Brothers or Transformers.
The Wrigley Building is a Class A office complex, offering 426,000
square feet of leasable space, including 360,000 square feet of offices
and 66,000 square feet of retail. Major tenants include corporate
offices, tech firms, and creative agencies, drawn by the building’s
prestige and amenities like 24/7 security, on-site management, and a
fitness center. Retail spaces along Michigan Avenue house high-end
shops, restaurants, and services, such as Walgreens’ flagship store,
Ghirardelli Chocolate Shop, and Starbucks. The plaza’s food trucks and
seasonal markets add vibrancy, while the building’s Riverwalk access
connects it to Chicago’s pedestrian network.
The 2012–2017
renovation upgraded HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems, earning LEED
Gold certification for sustainability. The project restored the
terra-cotta facade, replacing 10% of damaged tiles, and added modern
touches like energy-efficient windows and a green roof on the annex. The
renovation preserved 90% of historic features, ensuring compliance with
Chicago Landmark standards. Annual operating costs are approximately
$2.50 per square foot, competitive for premium downtown properties.
While primarily an office building, the Wrigley Building welcomes
visitors through its public spaces and guided tours. The ground-floor
arcade and courtyard are open daily, offering photo opportunities and a
glimpse of the lobbies. The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), located
nearby at 111 East Wacker Drive, offers Wrigley Building tours as part
of its Magnificent Mile walking tours ($30, 90 minutes), covering its
history, design, and role in Chicago’s development. Private group tours
can be arranged through CAC or the building’s management.
Visitors praise the building’s dazzling facade and prime location, steps
from the Michigan Avenue Bridge and opposite the Apple Store’s glass
pavilion. The courtyard’s seasonal decor, like winter lights or summer
flowerbeds, enhances its appeal. However, public access to upper floors
is restricted, limiting exploration to tenant areas. The retail corridor
is bustling but can feel commercial compared to the building’s historic
grandeur. Accessibility is strong, with ramps, elevators, and
ADA-compliant entrances, though the courtyard’s cobblestones may
challenge wheelchairs. Nearby CTA stations (Red Line at Grand or
State/Lake) and parking garages make it easily reachable.
The Wrigley Building is a cultural touchstone, symbolizing Chicago’s
architectural innovation and commercial prowess. As one of the first
skyscrapers to use artificial lighting to highlight its facade, it
pioneered nighttime urban aesthetics, a practice now standard in cities
worldwide. Its terra-cotta cladding influenced buildings like the
Tribune Tower and set a benchmark for material craftsmanship. The
building’s role in establishing the Magnificent Mile as a luxury retail
and office district underscores its economic impact, with the area now
generating billions in annual revenue.
The Wrigley Building has
appeared in films like The Blues Brothers (1980) and Transformers: Age
of Extinction (2014), cementing its pop culture status. It also hosts
civic events, such as Chicago’s annual Christmas tree lighting, and its
clock tower is a reference point for locals navigating downtown. The
building’s archives, held by the Chicago History Museum, include
original blueprints and Wrigley Company records, supporting scholarly
research.
The Wrigley Building is a triumph of early 20th-century architecture, blending functionality with aesthetic splendor. Its terra-cotta facade and clock tower remain unmatched in elegance, and the 2017 renovation successfully balanced preservation with modernization. However, limited public access to interior spaces frustrates visitors seeking a deeper experience, and the retail mix, while upscale, lacks the uniqueness of nearby competitors like Water Tower Place. Sustainability efforts are commendable, but the building’s energy footprint, due to its size and lighting, remains significant. Compared to other Chicago landmarks like the Willis Tower or Art Institute, its office-centric role makes it less of a tourist destination, though its exterior alone justifies a visit. No animal welfare or ethical concerns arise, as the building is a commercial property without collections or exhibits.