333 South Wabash
- Architect
- Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
- Year
- 1972
- Style
- International Style
- City
- Chicago, IL
333 South Wabash is a 600-foot, 44-story International Style tower completed in 1972 by the Chicago firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. Originally built as Continental Center III for CNA Financial Corporation, the plain rectangular slab is impossible to miss for one reason: Eagle Painting & Maintenance Company coated the entire building bright red, earning it the nickname 'The Red.' CNA occupied roughly two-thirds of the tower for decades before Northern Trust signed a 2017 lease for 465,000 square feet, consolidating thousands of employees here and taking naming rights in 2020.
the building
The red paint job. Eagle Painting & Maintenance Company painted the entire 44-story tower bright red, turning an otherwise simple International Style slab into one of the Loop's most recognizable silhouettes and giving the building its popular nickname, 'The Red.'
From CNA to Northern Trust. CNA Financial occupied about 65 percent of the building as of 2014. In August 2017, Northern Trust agreed to lease 465,000 square feet, consolidating 2,500 to 3,000 employees from sites around Chicago into the tower in 2020, along with signage and naming rights.
the style
The design is a straightforward International Style slab — a simple rectangular tower — with none of the ornament that marks the Loop's earlier skyscrapers; here the architecture makes its statement through color rather than form.
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