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Architecture of Chicago

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Chicago architecture has influenced and reflected the history of American architecture. The city of Chicago, Illinois features prominent buildings in a variety of styles by many important architects. Since most buildings within the downtown area were destroyed (the most famous exception being the Water Tower) by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, Chicago buildings are noted for their originality rather than their antiquity.

Home Insurance Building

History

Beginning in the early 1880s, the Chicago School pioneered steel-frame construction and, in the 1890s, the use of large areas of plate glass. These were among the first modern skyscrapers. William LeBaron Jenney's Home Insurance Building of 1885 was the first to use steel in its structural frame instead of cast iron, but this building was still clad in heavy brick and stone. Daniel Burnham and his partners, John Welborn Root and Charles Atwood, designed technically advanced steel frames with glass and terra cotta skins in the mid-1890s; these were made possible by professional engineers, in particular E. C. Shankland, and modern contractors, in particular George A. Fuller. Louis Sullivan was the city's most philosophical architect. Realizing that the skyscraper represented a new form of architecture, he discarded historical precedent and designed buildings that emphasized their vertical nature. This new form of architecture, by Jenney, Burnham, Sullivan, and others, became known as the "Commercial Style," but it was called the "Chicago School" by later historians.

In 1892 the Masonic Temple surpassed the New York World Building, breaking its two year reign as the tallest skyscraper, only to be surpassed itself two years later by another New York building.

Daniel Burnham led the design of the "White City" of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition which some historians claim led to a revival of Neo-Classical architecture throughout Chicago and the entire United States. It is true that the "White City" represented anything other than its host city's architecture. While Burnham did develop the 1909 "Plan for Chicago", perhaps the first comprehensive city plan in the U.S, in a Neo-Classical style, many of Chicago's most progressive skyscrapers occurred after the Exposition closed, between 1894 and 1899. Louis Sullivan said that the fair set the course of American architecture back by two decades, but even his finest Chicago work, the Schlesinger and Meyer (later Carson, Pirie, Scott) store, was built in 1899--five years afer the "White City" and ten years before Burnham's Plan.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School influenced both building design and the design of furnishings.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Illinois Institute of Technology campus in Chicago influenced the later Modern or International style. Van der Rohe's work is sometimes called the Second Chicago School.

The Sears Tower would be the world's tallest building from its construction in 1974 until 1998 and later for some categories of building.

Numerous architects have constructed landmark buildings of varying styles in Chicago. Some of these are the so-called "Chicago seven": James Freed, Tom Beeby, Larry Booth, Stuart Cohen, James Nagle, Stanley Tigerman, and Ben Weese.

Notable future Chicago buildings

Aqua Tower is currently slated for construction beginning in early 2007. An 82 story residential & hotel high-rise slated for the River East development in the downtown area. The building is striking for its freeflowing facade design resembling moving water. Designed by Studio Gang Architects & Loewenberg + Associates (developer). Of any high-rise in the city not currently under construction at the close of 2006, this one is the most likely to proceed due to it being incorporated into an already existing development (River East) as part of its original plan. Current status: Construction slated to start late 2006/early 2007


The Chicago Spire (formerly Fordham Spire) has been approved by the Chicago City Council, and is slated to break ground in late 2006 or early 2007. As designed, it will eclipse the Sears Tower as the tallest building in North America. Current status: Proposed

One Museum Park, totaling 68 stories in the South Loop area within the Museum Park development overlooking the Museum Campus (Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium). Designed by Pappageorge/Haymes, Ltd. Current status: Under construction

The Park Michigan Tower in the South Loop, encompassing 80 stories, designed by Pappageorge/Haymes, Ltd. Current status: Proposed

The Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago) is currently under construction on the Chicago River at the site of the old Chicago Sun-Times building. Current status: Under construction

Waterview Tower, currently under construction on Wacker Drive at a site formerly used for parking. Designed by Thomas F. Hoepf of Teng & Associates, the 89 story high-rise will be a hotel-condo mixed use structure. Shangri-La Hotel & Resorts will operate the hotel portion. Current status: Under construction

Important Chicago buildings

 
Chicago Avenue Pumping Station
 
The Manhattan Building (right) on South Dearborn Street
 
The Chicago Merchandise Mart
 
Marina City from across the river

References

  • Pridmore, Jay and George A. Larson, Chicago Architecture and Design : Revised and expanded, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 2005. ISBN 0-8109-5892-9.

See also

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