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14-534: Before the building was constructed, the Morrison Hotel , on its former site, was demolished in 1965. The building first opened in 1969 as First National Plaza . When constructed, it was the headquarters of First Chicago Corporation . In 1998, it became the headquarters for Bank One Corporation , and accordingly it was renamed Bank One Tower , The current name dates from October 24, 2005, one year after Bank One merged with Chase. Chase's retail bank division

28-558: A deep sunken plaza at the geographic center of the Chicago Loop , complete with a jet fountain and Marc Chagall 's ceramic wall mural Four Seasons . The ground floor is home to the largest Chase Bank branch in Chicago with 22 ATMs . Morrison Hotel (Chicago) The Morrison Hotel was a high rise hotel at the corner of Madison and Clark Streets in the downtown Loop community area of Chicago , Illinois . It

42-548: A fad with other contestants setting records of 12, 17 and 21 days. In 1929, Shipwreck decided to reclaim the title. He sat on a flagpole for 49 days in Atlantic City, New Jersey , setting a new record. The following year, 1930, his record was broken by Bill Penfield in Strawberry Point, Iowa , who sat on a flagpole for 51 days and 20 hours, until a thunderstorm forced him down. For the most part, pole sitting

56-673: Is based in the tower. For a time the National Public Radio show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! was taped on Thursday nights before a live audience at the Chase Auditorium under the plaza. In 2022 the show permanently moved to the Fine Arts Building . Design architects for the construction were C.F. Murphy Associates , Stanislaw Z. Gladych and Perkins and Will . Chase Tower is known for both its distinctive curving shape and its vibrant public space:

70-538: Is the practice of sitting on top of a pole (such as a flagpole ) as a test of endurance. A small platform is typically placed at the top of the pole for the sitter. Led by the stunt actor and former sailor Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly , flagpole sitting was a fad in the mid-to-late 1920s, but mostly died out after the start of the Great Depression . Pole sitting is predated by the ancient ascetic discipline of stylitism , or column-sitting. St. Simeon Stylites

84-710: The Chicago Herald-Examiner kept the notorious murderer Robert Irwin sequestered while negotiating terms of his surrender to authorities in Manhattan. The Morrison Hotel would also host the second ever NBA draft via the 1948 BAA draft (the BAA ( Basketball Association of America ) being a predecessor of the modern-day NBA through merger with the National Basketball League ) on May 10, 1948 after previously hosting their first draft at

98-480: The Elder ( c.  388 –459) of Antioch (now Turkey ) was a column-sitter who sat on a small platform on a column for 36 years. Flagpole sitting was a fad in the mid-to-late 1920s. The fad was begun by stunt actor and former sailor Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, who sat on a flagpole, either on a dare by a friend or as a publicity stunt. Shipwreck's initial 1924 sit lasted 13 hours and 13 minutes. It soon became

112-648: The Leland Hotel in Detroit , Michigan . Standing 526 feet (160 m) high, the Morrison Hotel was the first building outside of New York City to have more than 40 floors, and for thirty years was the world's tallest hotel. At the time of its razing in 1965, it was the tallest building to have ever been demolished anywhere in the world. At the time it was demolished, it was still the tallest hotel in Chicago. Flagpole sitting Pole sitting

126-623: The beauty parlor. From 1932 on, the headquarters of the Cook County Democratic machine was on the third floor of the Morrison. Joe "Hold 'Em" Powers spent a world record 16 days on the hotel flagpole in 1927, despite losing six teeth when wind blew him into cables. In 1931, the Air Line Pilots Association was founded in the hotel's ballroom. In June 1937, the hotel served as the location in which

140-467: Was confined to the 1920s, ending with the onset of the Depression. In a dialog sequence early in the 1932 movie The Most Dangerous Game , the character Zaroff introduces the protagonist Bob to his guests as a celebrity, upon which Martin guesses (incorrectly) that Bob might be a flagpole sitter. In 2004 Danish film Tid Til Forandring / What's Wrong With This Picture the pole-sitting competition

154-552: Was designed by the architectural firm of Holabird & Roche and completed in 1925. The hotel was demolished in 1965 to make room for the First National Bank Building (now Chase Tower). The hotel was named for Orsemus Morrison , the first coroner in Chicago, who bought the site in 1838 and in 1860 built a three-story hotel with 21 rooms. Destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, this

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168-432: Was replaced by an eight-story building. In 1915 Harry C. Moir, who had bought the property from Morrison's nephew, built a 21-floor, 500-room hotel designed by Marshall and Fox . The hotel was expanded by 650 rooms in 1918. In 1925 the firm Holabird & Roche further expanded it, adding a 46-story tower. The hotel had 1,800 rooms in 1931. A fourth, 21-story section was then added, bringing the number of rooms to 2,210, but

182-708: Was sold in 1937, becoming the Hotel Chicagoan; in the 1950s this was operated under lease by the Morrison. In 1952 a syndicate bought the Morrison and renovated it. The 1873 Morrison Hotel housed the Boston Oyster House in its basement. In the skyscraper hotel, the Terrace Casino opened in 1936 with a performance by Sophie Tucker and was an important Big Band venue; the Carousel in the Sky

196-605: Was the world's highest nightclub; the Jockey Club on the first floor was the site of protests by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that forced removal of its black jockey statues . Presidents Truman , Eisenhower , and Kennedy and Vice-presidents Barkley and Nixon stayed at the hotel; boxer Jack Dempsey was also a frequent guest. Gorgeous George was a daily client of

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