Heller International Building Heller International Building The Heller International Building is a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. The building rises 600 feet (183 m) in Chicago's Near West Side neighborhood. It contains 45 floors, and was completed in 1992. The Heller International Building currently stands as the 44th-tallest building in the city. The architectural firm who designed the building was Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, the same firm who designed Chicago's Sears Tower and John Hancock Center and the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The Heller International Building currently stands as the tallest building in Chicago situated west of the Chicago River. One year after its
Metropolitan Tower (Chicago) White, the Metropolitan Tower was named the Straus Building when completed in 1924. Though it was the first building in Chicago with 30 or more floors, it was never officially designated Chicago's tallest building since the Chicago Temple Building, also completed in 1924, is taller by but has seven fewer floors. The Straus Building and the Chicago Temple Building were the first to take advantage of the 1923 zoning ordinance; before then, no building in Chicago could be taller than . The Metropolitan Tower was at one time called the Continental National Insurance Company Building (later Continental Center I). From