15-Apr-12 – (Above) Give me a U! Workers on the north side of the former Unitrin Building set free the first letter of the UNITRIN sign that has illuminated the riverfront for 12 years.

One by one, they came for each of the letters, and in about two hours late Sunday morning, both signs, one on the south side and the other on the north side, were dismantled.

The insurance company at One East Wacker Drive changed its name on August 25, 2011, to Kemper Corporation. The new sign, which will be installed next Sunday, will be about the same size as the old sign, with a stylized “K” followed by “KEMPER” in white, similar to the Kemper logo.

Built in 1962, the 41-story steel and marble building started out as the United Insurance Building. It was changed to Unitrin in 2000.

Each letter was lifted away from the building by the same helicopter that lifted steel beams to the roof of theWit hotel on March 4 – a Sikorsky S-58T twin-turbine helicopter, piloted by Jim Triggs of Midwest Helicopter Airways. The letters were then lowered to Wacker Drive. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

(Left) The helicopter returns for the next letter. (Below) The letter N leaves the Unitrin Building and is deposited next to the other discarded letters.  Related story: Beam me up!