The headquarters also includes the Golden Rondelle Theater, relocated from the 1964 New York World's Fair, in addition to Fortaleza Hall and The Commons, a memorial to Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr..

In addition, the original headquarters has received the American Institute of Architects' Twenty-five Year Award and has been designated as a National Historic Landmark.

The Johnson Administration Building is designed in a variation of the streamlined Art Moderne style, with a curved brick facade and Pyrex glass-tube windows.

The Administration Building also includes offices on a mezzanine and penthouse, in addition to an overpass connecting with a carport; these spaces contain furniture designed by Wright.

[9] Designed by Lippincott & Margulies as a 1964 New York World's Fair pavilion,[10] the theater has a saucer-shaped, gold-colored roof supported by six concrete columns.

[14] Immediately to the east of the Golden Rondelle Theater, and northeast of the original headquarters, is Fortaleza Hall and The Commons, which opened in 2010 and was designed by Foster + Partners.

[40] Wright's plans for the Johnson Administration Building were based on his earlier, unbuilt design for the Capital Journal offices in Salem, Oregon,[30][31][41] which included a series of mushroom–shaped columns and translucent walls.

[41][42] Wright tried to convince the company to relocate to the Racine suburbs,[43] as he wanted to incorporate his proposals for Broadacre City into the S. C. Johnson complex.

[91] Olgivanna Wright recalled that her husband had become increasingly agitated because contractors and laborers requested constant clarifications on various aspects of the project.

[103][105] The Johnson Administration Building also attracted other visitors, including a wide variety of architects[106] and the animator Walt Disney (who was an acquaintance of Wright's).

[107] The caulking between the Administration Building's Pyrex glass tubes began to peel off after it was completed, causing leaks,[83][108] which continued for several years.

[114] The cantilevered floor slabs in the plans had been influenced by his proposal for unbuilt apartment buildings at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in New York City.

[124] Work on the Research Tower was delayed because the federal Civilian Production Administration, which reviewed industrial projects after World War II, would not approve the structure.

[11][153] The land to the north of the existing headquarters was acquired and cleared to make way for the theater,[9] and two pavilion structures, also designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, were built next to it.

[21][168] S. C. Johnson also wanted to repurpose the tower,[25][162] though these plans were ultimately dropped because it could not meet modern building codes without undergoing significant design changes.

The company was unable to install sound-absorbing panels, nor could it equip the mezzanine with telecommunications wires, and employees brought in doctors' notes recommending against the use of Wright's chairs.

[17][174] Fisk hired Foster and Partners to design the building, known as "Project Honor" in 2006;[17] the new structure would host the headquarters' cafeteria and other meeting spaces.

[46] The facade originally did not contain any public-facing signage, although a small sign was mounted on the northern elevation of the building's carport, facing the parking lot.

[61] Robert Mosher, who thought Wright would reject any suggestions for signage on the facade, reportedly told Hibbert and S. C. Johnson's board of directors that the building "is going to be such a contribution that you won't need any sign".

[132] The windows are composed of glass tubes measuring 2 inches (51 mm) in diameter and separated by insulating strips made of synthetic rubber.

[243] There is a two-story annex on Franklin Street, which dates from the early 1960s and is clad with red brick, molded Plexiglas, reinforced concrete, and Kasota limestone.

[120] Each floor slab is hollow, with ducts, rebar, and steel sheets sandwiched between the two layers of concrete;[132] they taper in thickness toward their perimeters.

[151] When the Administration Building was under construction, The Christian Science Monitor described it as a "complete about-face from the skyscraper", citing its streamlined, low-to-the-ground design.

[82] United Press International wrote that the building's design was meant to erase differences between management and subordinates, saying that "the errand boy and the president sit on the same kind of a chair".

[254] When the tower was finished, one commentator wrote that it was "as soul-stirring as the Colosseum, the Alps, or Sorrento",[255] while The Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, likened the core to a flagpole.

[243] Additionally, Cosmopolitan magazine wrote that Wright had "create[d] a kind of beauty the past had never seen", listing the Johnson Wax Headquarters as one of seven "art wonders of America",[256] while another observer likened the Administration Building to a cathedral.

[158] In a 2000 book about American architecture, the writer Carter Wiseman compared the interior of the great workroom to "a dense but sheltering forest" because of the presence of the columns.

[148] James S. Russell of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the structures had retained their character over time, both because of S. C. Johnson's stewardship and because of their innovative nature.

[104] S. C. Johnson credited the buildings' design with creating publicity for the company,[96] whose executives gave Wright a plaque and a $20,000 check as a sign of gratitude in 1953.

[211] Fay Jones, one of Wright's apprentices, cited the Johnson Administration Building as an inspiration for his own Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Arkansas.