Chicago architecture
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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.
Beginning in the early 1880s, the Chicago School pioneered steel-frame construction and the use of large amounts of glass. These were the first modern skyscrapers. William LeBaron Jenney's Home Insurance Building of 1885 was the first use of steel-skeleton instead of cast iron and stone. Louis Sullivan, realizing that the skyscraper could be used to create a new form of architecture, discarded historical precedent and designed buildings that emphasized their vertical nature. Since he was based in Chicago and many of his buildings were built there, this new form of architecture became known as the "Chicago School".
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 led to a revival of Neo-Classical architecture throughout Chicago and the entire United States. He later developed the 1909 "Plan for Chicago", perhaps the first comprehensive city plan in the U.S. The "White City" represented anything other than its host city's architecture. Louis Sullivan said that the fair set the course of American architecture back by two decades.
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
The 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.
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.
Important Chicago Buildings
- 1869 Chicago Water Tower, William W. Boyington
- 1872 Second Presbyterian Church 1936 S. Michigan, James Renwick 1900 Howard Van Doren Shaw
- 1877 St. Stanislaus Kostka Church1327 N. Noble, Patrick Keely
- 1885 Home Insurance Building, Chicago School, William Le Baron Jenney
- 1887 Marshall Field Warehouse, Henry Hobson Richardson
- 1889 Auditorium Building, Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.
- 1890 and 1894–1895 Reliance Building, firm of Daniel Burnham
- 1891 Manhattan Building, William Le Baron Jenney
- 1893 Palace of Fine Arts, later Museum of Science and Industry, Beaux-Arts, Charles Atwood
- 1897 St. Paul Church 2234 S. Hoyne, Henry Schlacks
- 1898 Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, Louis Sullivan
- 1909 Robie House, Prairie School, Frank Lloyd Wright
- 1914 Navy Pier
- 1916 Navy Pier Auditorium, Charles Summer Frost
- 1919-1924 Wrigley Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
- 1920 Michigan Avenue Bridge
- 1921 Chicago Theater, Beaux-Arts, Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp
- 1922 Tribune Tower, neo-Gothic, John Mead Howells and Raymond M. Hood
- 1924 Soldier Field, Holabird and Roche; extensive renovation 2003, Ben Wood and Carlos Zapata
- 1929 Palmolive Building, Art Deco, Holabird & Root
- 1929 John G. Shedd Aquarium, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
- 1931 Merchandise Mart, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
- 1930s-1960s Illinois Institute of Technology, including S.R. Crown Hall, Second Chicago School, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill
- 1934 Field Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
- 1952 860–880 Lake Shore Drive, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- 1964 Marina City, Bertrand Goldberg
- 1968 Lake Point Tower, John Heinrich and George Schipporeit
- 1969 John Hancock Center, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
- 1974 Sears Tower, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
- 1974 Aon Center, Edward Durrell Stone (earlier names were Standard Oil Building and Amoco Building)
- 1979-85 James R. Thompson Center, Helmut Jahn
- 1990 American Medical Association Building, Kenzo Tange
- 1990 Athletic Club Illinois Center, Kisho Kurokawa
- 1991 Harold Washington Library Center, Thomas Beeby
- 1991 Museum of Contemporary Art, Josef Paul Kleihues
- 1992 77 West Wacker Drive, Ricardo Bofill
- 2004 Millennium Park, Frank Gehry, a showcase for 21st century modernism.
References
- Jay Pridmore, George A. Larson, Chicage Architecture and Design : Revised and expanded, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 2005. ISBN 0-8109-5892-9.
See also
External links
- [Architectural history of Chicago]
- [Online tour of designated Chicago landmarks]
- [Information on several major Chicago buildings]
- [Chicago Architects Oral History Project]
- [Cosmopolis overview]
- [Chicago Church Architecture]
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