In this study the seismic performance of welded steel moment connections to built-up box columns in the existing building built before 1994 Northridge earthquake was evaluated by cyclic tests. According to the test results, the pre-Northridge steel moment connections to the box columns also suffered from brittle fracture similar to that in the H-shaped column connections. However, the flange force transfer mechanism of the box column connections was substantially different from that of the H-shaped column connections, and the patterns of crack propagation may be changed due to the shape of the box column. Therefore, it is required to develop proper details for the box column connections instead of using the research results for H-shaped column connections in order to enhance the seismic performance the connections.