Prudential Building Observation Deck and Restaurant (Chicago, Marshall: theater, construction, live)

[Nyc1664]

Here is a video and an article that shows and talks about the observation deck and Top of the Rock Restaurant near the top of the Prudential Building. The venues lasted from the mid 1950's until about the 1970's. Does anyone know when the observation deck was closed to the public, because I know that Top of the Rock Restaurant closed in 1976.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emeYDAzrRkc WendyCity | WendyCity Vintage View: Top of the Rock

[BOBNCHI]

About the same time the TOTR closed. The Hancock and Sears Tower killed it.

[Nyc1664]

Originally Posted by BOBNCHI

About the same time the TOTR closed. The Hancock and Sears Tower killed it.

Was the observation deck also closed in 1976?

[BOBNCHI]

Originally Posted by Nyc1664

Was the observation deck also closed in 1976?

IIRC, yes. It seemed to me they closed during the same time frame but perhaps my memory is foggy.

[NoHyping]

There was also the " Top of the Rock" Restaurant there on top of course.... guess kind of like The (formally called) John Hancock with its 360 Chicago outlook and Signature Cafe/Lounge. Still seems the Top of the Rock was a full restaurant. This link on the restaurant says it closed in 1976. So still not sure about the lookout and this restaurant and were they on separate floors etc.? Links also note the Top of the Rock restaurant with Stouffer's was also a 24/7 all year one also.....

Link from 2018 and comments are ohh wow moment ..... revealing of the era.
Still a couple sort of contradict each other? Neither proof of true to either degree?
I could see the one comment being during the 1950s and the other by the late 60s 70s.

WendyCity | WendyCity Vintage View: Top of the Rock


Basically, also Stouffer's Top of the Rock.

https://cardboardamerica.org/2016/10/12/stouffers/

- The restaurant group launched its "Top of…" restaurants in the 1956 with Stouffer’s Top of the Rock located in the newly built Prudential Building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Not long after that the Top of the Six’s opened in New York.

-The Top of the Rock was located at the top of the Prudential Building on Michigan Avenue. Upon its opening in 1956, the restaurant at that top of Chicago’s first skyscraper in 21 years, offered unparalleled views of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan. On a clear day you could see four states and seemingly all of Chicago.

- Top of the Rock was THE place to go on a date, get a cocktail and take in a great view. Top of the Rock sat 180 guests in an early-American/Continental decor.

- That only lasted for about a decade. In 1966, the Prudential Building was no longer the tallest building in Chicago. By the early 1970s the observation deck, that once was host to over 750,000 people a year, was down to fewer than one-third of that total.

- The restaurants, now struggling to gain visitors seemed dated and The Loop area was no longer a place for tourists. The Loop had turned in to a downtown that was for business people only and was virtually abandoned when the evening rolled around.

- In January 1976 the Top of the Rock closed.

- A February 8, 1976 article "'Top of Rock’ winks out - omen for Loop?" by Paul Gapp in The Chicago Tribune laments the demise of the restaurant and the Loop:

- The restaurant did not merely lose a height battle. It lost out on changing times and forces that have killed off a dozen other landmark Loop restaurants [not to mention theaters, nightclubs, book stores, specialty shops, and other amenities razed in the name of progress."]

[Curly Q. Bobalink]

My BIL had his own name for the 95th Restaurant in the John Hancock Building in the 70's. They refused service to him once because he wasn't wearing a tie, so he re-named it for them, not sure how widespread it became.

The new name not-so-coincidentally rhymed with the Prudential Building's "Top of the Rock", LOL. My guess is that the dress code is a bit more relaxed today, based on how I've seen people get on planes, show up for jury duty, etc..

[Nyc1664]

Originally Posted by NoHyping

There was also the " Top of the Rock" Restaurant there on top of course.... guess kind of like The (formally called) John Hancock with its 360 Chicago outlook and Signature Cafe/Lounge. Still seems the Top of the Rock was a full restaurant. This link on the restaurant says it closed in 1976. So still not sure about the lookout and this restaurant and were they on separate floors etc.? Links also note the Top of the Rock restaurant with Stouffer's was also a 24/7 all year one also.....

Link from 2018 and comments are ohh wow moment ..... revealing of the era.
Still a couple sort of contradict each other? Neither proof of true to either degree?
I could see the one comment being during the 1950s and the other by the late 60s 70s.

WendyCity | WendyCity Vintage View: Top of the Rock


Basically, also Stouffer's Top of the Rock.

https://cardboardamerica.org/2016/10/12/stouffers/

- The restaurant group launched its "Top of…" restaurants in the 1956 with Stouffer’s Top of the Rock located in the newly built Prudential Building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Not long after that the Top of the Six’s opened in New York.

-The Top of the Rock was located at the top of the Prudential Building on Michigan Avenue. Upon its opening in 1956, the restaurant at that top of Chicago’s first skyscraper in 21 years, offered unparalleled views of downtown Chicago and Lake Michigan. On a clear day you could see four states and seemingly all of Chicago.

- Top of the Rock was THE place to go on a date, get a cocktail and take in a great view. Top of the Rock sat 180 guests in an early-American/Continental decor.

- That only lasted for about a decade. In 1966, the Prudential Building was no longer the tallest building in Chicago. By the early 1970s the observation deck, that once was host to over 750,000 people a year, was down to fewer than one-third of that total.

- The restaurants, now struggling to gain visitors seemed dated and The Loop area was no longer a place for tourists. The Loop had turned in to a downtown that was for business people only and was virtually abandoned when the evening rolled around.

- In January 1976 the Top of the Rock closed.

- A February 8, 1976 article "'Top of Rock’ winks out - omen for Loop?" by Paul Gapp in The Chicago Tribune laments the demise of the restaurant and the Loop:

- The restaurant did not merely lose a height battle. It lost out on changing times and forces that have killed off a dozen other landmark Loop restaurants [not to mention theaters, nightclubs, book stores, specialty shops, and other amenities razed in the name of progress."]

Between 1969 and the opening of the Sears Tower Skydeck in 1974, the John Hancock Center Observatory and Restaurant took much of the business from the Prudential Building observation deck and restaurant.

[jmgg]

During my first trip to Chicago when I was about 12 years old we went to the top of the Prudential Building. At that time, the tallest building in the city. We took the El to just below Marshall Fields. The biggest building I had seen prior to downtown Chicago was the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis, which really wasn't comparable. I was awestruck.

I vaguely remember looking down at the construction of the John Hancock Building.

How the times have changed.

[dcisive]

For me growing up there it was all about the Palmolive Building with its historic rotating lamp. The story I read about its inception for use promoting aeronautical use. Lots of history lost on that city.

[Nearwest]

The Prudential Building was significant in that it was the first office building to be constructed in downtown Chicago after World War 2.

At the time of its opening in 1955, the Prudential Building became the tallest structure in Chicago. The second tallest was the Board of Trade Building, which was topped with a statue of Ceres (Roman Goddess of Grain).