John Hancock Tower

John Hancock Tower
A view of Hancock Place from the Charles River
General information
Type	Office
Location	200 Clarendon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116, United States
Coordinates	42°20′57.4″N 71°04′29.2″W / 42.349278°N 71.074778°W / 42.349278; -71.074778Coordinates: 42°20′57.4″N 71°04′29.2″W / 42.349278°N 71.074778°W / 42.349278; -71.074778
Construction started	1968
Completed	1976
Owner	Boston Properties
Height
Roof	790 ft (240.8 m)
Technical details
Floor count	60
Floor area	2,059,997 sq ft (191,380.0 m2)
Design and construction
Architect	Henry N. Cobb of I.M. Pei & Partners
Developer	John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company

200 Clarendon, (previously John Hancock Tower) and colloquially known as The Hancock, is a 60-story, 790-foot (240 m) skyscraper in Boston. The tower was designed by Henry N. Cobb of the firm I. M. Pei & Partners and was completed in 1976. In 1977, the American Institute of Architects presented the firm with a National Honor Award for the building, and in 2011 conferred on it the Twenty-five Year Award. It has been the tallest building in Boston for more than 30 years, and is also the tallest building in New England.

The street address is 200 Clarendon Street, but occupants use both "Hancock Place" and "200 Clarendon Street" as mailing addresses for offices in the building. John Hancock Insurance was the main tenant of the building when it opened, but the company announced in 2004 that some offices would relocate to a new building at 601 Congress Street, in Fort Point, Boston.

Tall, narrow glass structures were a goal of modernist architecture since Mies Van Der Rohe proposed a glass skyscraper for Berlin. Such buildings as Gordon Bunshaft's Lever House, Mies' Seagram Building in New York City, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Wax Headquarters attempted this goal, but many of these designs retained structural artifacts that prevented a consistent, monolithic look.

In 1972, Cobb's design of the 200 Clarendon Tower took the glass monolith skyscraper concept to new heights. The tower is an achievement in minimalist, modernist skyscraper design.