181 West Madison Street, also known as the Paine Webber Tower, is a 50-story office tower in Chicago, Illinois. Cesar Pelli & Associates designed it, and it is Pelli's first and only completed tower in the city. Miglin-Beitler Developments built it. Construction started in 1988, and the building opened in 1990.
The glassy tower stands 680 feet tall. Its most distinctive feature is a recessed crown, which is lit white at the corners and in other colors for holidays. In 1989 the same developer and architect planned the nearby Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, but the project was scrapped amid a sluggish real estate market.
The building is now managed and leased by MB Real Estate. It is a good example of a late 20th-century office tower in the Loop, with a crown meant to be seen from afar.
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