The Thompson Center and Chicago Renewal

Begun in earnest in 1978, the North Loop Renewal Plan—like Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago before it—sought to transform the city and brought Helmut Jahn’s James R. Thompson Center into being.

Opened in 1985 as the State of Illinois Center, Jahn’s daring glass-and-steel building was designed in a postmodern style that hearkened back to domed state government structures of the past. It became a home to dozens of state agencies, was eventually renamed after Illinois Governor James R. Thompson and formed a cornerstone in the city’s ambitious plan for the North Loop. 

With October, 2015, came news of the current Illinois governor’s intentions to sell the ever-controversial 30-year-old building. Here’s a short introduction to two key Chicago urban planning efforts—and a prehistory of the Thompson Center in the making.