Reliance Building. View from northeast. (120 Photographic View of Chicago, Rand McNally, 1909) The Reliance emerged from unpromising circumstances. Elevator engineer and contractor William E. Hale hired Burnham & Root […]
Tag: Chicago
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 14
Tacoma Building, corner of La Salle and Madison Streets. Holabird and Roche, 1889 (demolished, 1929). (contemporary postcard, collection of the author) Masonry veneers began to appear on Chicago skyscrapers in […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 13
Tribune Tower, 435 N. Michigan. Hood and Howells, 1925. View from southwest. (Contemporary post card, collection of the author) . . . . the paper announced an open competition in […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 12
Chicago Temple, corner of Clark and Washington Streets. Holabird and Roche, 1923. View from northwest. (Contemporary post card, collection of the author) The most provocative challenge to the outdated […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 11
Stewart Building, corner of State and Washington Streets. D. H. Burnham & Co., 1897. (120 Photographic Views of Chicago, Rand McNally, 1909) The Stewart represents the burgeoning idea in Burnham’s office […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 10
Revell Block, corner of Wabash and Adams. Adler and Sullivan, 1883 (demolished, 1960). (Art Institute of Chicago) Further experiments in the potential for hybrid structures of iron and brick came […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 9
Palmolive Building, 919 N. Michigan Avenue. Holabird and Root, 1929. Night view from south. (Contemporary post card, collection of Thomas Leslie) The Palmolive’s exterior skin was utterly flat between its […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 8
Champlain Building, corner of State and Madison Streets. Holabird and Roche, 1894 (demolished, 1916). View from southeast. (120 Photographic Views of Chicago, Rand McNally, 1909) . . . . criticism […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 7
Bowen Building, 62-74 E. Randolph. W. W. Boyington, 1872. (Photo Thomas Leslie) Chicago came to be known as a city of steel, but well into the 1880s it remained a […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 5
Civic Opera, 20 N. Wacker Drive. Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White, 1929. View from southwest. (Contemporary post card, collection of Thomas Leslie) Powered construction, advanced structural engineering, and rapid elevators […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 4
Schlesinger and Meyer Department Store. Detail of Madison Street elevation. (Photograph by Thomas Leslie) It was the eventual expansion of Schlesinger & Mayer’s operations that produced the refined statement of […]
Skyscraper of the Day, Part 3
Wrigley Building, 510 N. Michigan Avenue, Graham, Anderson, Probst, and White, 1921, view from southeast. (Contemporary postcard, collection of Thomas Leslie) The Wrigley Building’s most striking features, however, were the […]