Talk:John Hancock Tower

Requested move 23 April 2017

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: NOT MOVED. This was an advisory nomination, and to date not one person -- not even the nominator, since it's advisory -- has expressed a desire to move it. Herostratus (talk) 18:58, 29 April 2017 (UTC)

John Hancock Tower → 200 Clarendon Street – I do not support this move, but an an editor (with his first edit) moved it without discussion from "John Hancock Tower" to "200 Clarendon Street". I'm not sure what the name should be (the old name is fine with me, but I don't really know the answer), but at any rate it should be discussed. So I move it back, and let's have a proper discussion if we want to move it. Herostratus (talk) 03:59, 23 April 2017 (UTC)

Survey

 * Oppose as initiator, for the reasons given below. This is an advisory nomination.

Threaded discussion
See WP:COMMONNAME and WP:OFFICIALNAME. According to this 2015 Boston Globe article, the John Hancock Insurance Company has left the building and the owners are not allowed to use the old name (John Hancock Tower) anymore, legally, so apparently they chose the singularly uninspiring "200 Clarendon Street" (I would have gone with "Big Boy", but they didn't ask me).

The thing is, nobody calls it that. They still call it the Hancock Tower or the John Hancock Tower, or sometimes the New Hancock Building if they're old-timers, or maybe just the Hancock. I've never heard anybody call it "200 Clarendon Street" although granted I don't get into town that much.

This may change over time, but AFAIK it hasn't yet. Indeed the article I pointed to above is title "So, what should we call the John Hancock Tower now?" and it's a reasonable question -- for the future going forward. We are not a crystal ball are we constrained to legal names for our article titles.

I like to consult Google Ngram on WP:COMMONNAME issues, and the Google Ngram says that "John Hancock Tower" wipes the floor with "200 Clarendon Street", granted it only goes to 2008 and there are probably other John Hancock Towers in there, such as the Chicago one. Google Hits are not much use, but FWIW there are about 10x hits for "John Hancock Tower" over "200 Clarendon Street". Order of magnitude. If anybody has better data, it's most welcome. Herostratus (talk) 04:14, 23 April 2017 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

External links modified
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Windows problem in the lede
I just read through the article and was a bit surprised that the problem of the popping-out windows doesn't appear in the lede. It's probably the best-known thing about the building. Ishboyfay (talk) 05:42, 10 January 2020 (UTC)

Mention of PS4 Resemblance?
Most likely under "In popular culture", I think we should add something like "many popular internet forums point out the resemblance between the tower and the Playstation 4" Thoughts?

AmrAlWatan(🗣️ 21:02, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

John Hancock Trivia unnecessary
The last paragraph in the lede just restates that the tower’s nickname came from the insurance company who financed and originally occupied it, then irrelevantly explains the insurance company is named after John Hancock, and then further explains that John Hancock is notable for his large signature on the DoI and this led to using “Hancock” as a euphemism for signature.

None of this belongs in the lede. When discussing the buildings development, a sentence noting that the insurance company was named after the founding father with a link to his article would be appropriate. The trivia about Hancock’s signature is completely off- topic unless there is a source indicating some connection between the building and his signature. 2600:1700:B0B1:0:3551:15DF:747F:84F4 (talk) 18:44, 19 March 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 19 May 2024

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Favonian (talk) 20:19, 26 May 2024 (UTC)

John Hancock Tower → 200 Clarendon Street – This is the new name for the JHT in Boston. Interstellarity (talk) 20:19, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. See #Requested move 23 April 2017. The change in official name was in 2015. I don't see a trend toward this being the common name according to Google Ngrams (book data as of 2019). And see this Google News search of "Hancock Tower" OR "200 Clarendon" Boston. If you have some evidence that this has become the common name, I am willing to consider it. SilverLocust 💬 21:09, 19 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose move. We went through the same situation in Chicago.  O.N.R.  (talk) 23:57, 19 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose, still the common name for the building. Randy Kryn (talk) 13:43, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Support per consistency with moving articles to their new name. It is Willis Tower, not Sears Tower and it is Crypto.com Arena, not Staples Center. I know others are going to point out that my argument is WP:OTHERSTUFF but there needs to be consistency when it comes to renaming landmarks. cookie monster   755  22:05, 22 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. For the Willis Tower, that name has over the years become the common name (actually it's about 50/50, but whatever). But 200 Clarendon is not common yet, I don't think. For stadiums, I don't know, but they might be a special case as many of these change their names every few years, so actually knowing the common name is difficult, plus (I think) the names of stadiums are constantly being used ("It's a beautiful day here at StupidName stadium..." etc) so maybe that's different. Herostratus (talk) 04:07, 24 May 2024 (UTC)