DOWNTOWN — A glass window fell off the side of a Streeterville high-rise earlier this week, sending glass crashing to the pavement many stories below, sources said Tuesday.
The window came from the 600 N. Fairbanks Court building, a luxury high-rise known for its modern aesthetic and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The building was designed by German architect Helmut Jahn, who also designed the James R. Thompson Center, the United Airlines Terminal at O'Hare Airport and several other well-known buildings in the city and around the world.
The window, which appeared to be on the 12th or 13th story, fell from the western side of the high-rise late Monday, a building employee said. It crashed into an alley along East Ohio Street, where small bits of glass could still be seen Tuesday afternoon.
The building's management could not be reached for comment, and the employee said it was unclear what caused the window to fall.
Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the Chicago Department of Buildings, said his department never received notice about the window.
After being told about it by DNAinfo.com Chicago, McCaffrey sent an inspector out Tuesday afternoon to investigate. The inspector determined that there was no problem with the building itself, but that he suspected something hit the window and caused it to fall, McCaffrey said.
McCaffrey said another window on the building shattered last year after being hit by a window washer's equipment.
The building's management wasn't required to report that incident because it seemed like an accident, and "there was no cause for alarm," McCaffrey said.
In 1999, a glass shard fell from the 29th floor of a CNA Plaza's South Tower, at 333 S. Wabash Ave., killing a 33-year-old woman.
