Thomas Leslie, author of Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934, recently spoke with WGLT-FM public radio about what architecture says not only about a city’s history, but about interpreting an urban identity. 

“Chicago skyscrapers were seen as this example of technology sort of determining architectural form; that you could look at the technology that went into the building and tell… what the building was going to look like. I think for the last twenty or so years there has been a sort of reinterpretation that’s gone on that said well, ‘skyscrapers were really sort of a socio-cultural phenomena’ and they are all about the kind of city as much as they were about the technology. I think that the recasting that I am trying to do with the book is to say well, maybe they weren’t technologically determined but technology played a huge role in it.”

Listen to the entire interview here: Thomas Leslie, The Chicago School Of Architecture Reconsidered on WGLT radio.