--- title: Glass Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) Cracks description: Visitors to the 103-floor glass Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower—formerly known as the Sears Tower—were shocked when cracks appeared. canonical: https://time.com/136866/chicago-willis-tower-skydeck-crack/ author: Noah Rayman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-29T17:36:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:09.070Z og:title: Glass Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) Cracks og:description: Visitors to the 103-floor glass Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower—formerly known as the Sears Tower—were shocked when cracks appeared. og:url: https://time.com/136866/chicago-willis-tower-skydeck-crack/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ee6814577ed34a/6986914755a8597b9ba80ffb/willis-tower.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Views From Atop The Willis Tower og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Glass Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) Cracks twitter:description: Visitors to the 103-floor glass Skydeck at Chicago’s Willis Tower—formerly known as the Sears Tower—were shocked when cracks appeared. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt64ee6814577ed34a/6986914755a8597b9ba80ffb/willis-tower.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Uh Oh! 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Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman May 29, 2014 5:36 PM UTC Visitors to the 103-floor glass Skydeck attraction at Chicago’s Willis Tower—formerly known as the Sears Tower—were in for a scare when cracks appeared in the glass. > [](https://twitter.com/SeidelContent/status/472033935359483904) Alejandro Garibay [told NBC Chicago](http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-willis-tower-sky-deck-ledge-crack-261079001.html) that he was on the glass with his brother and two cousins Wednesday night when they heard cracking. He said even the staff, whom he alerted, were shocked to see the cracks form. A spokesperson for the tower says the cracks only appeared on a protective coating and the glass structure, designed to hold five tons, was not damaged. The attraction, which opened in 2009, is still open, but one of the four “Ledge” platforms was roped off Thursday morning and a carpet covered the floor, [according](http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/27746004-418/willis-tower-ledge-cracks-under-tourists-feet.html#.U4dZ0JRdUp8) to the Chicago _Sun-Times_. Still, scary stuff. \[[_NBC Chicago_](http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-willis-tower-sky-deck-ledge-crack-261079001.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/136866/chicago-willis-tower-skydeck-crack/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/136866/chicago-willis-tower-skydeck-crack/"},"headline":"Uh Oh! 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