The best advice I have ever received was from a man named Dr. Angus Lockyer. During my first time studying abroad in London, Angus was my London Social History professor. He is English, witty and wise beyond his years. As our professor, he would lead us on long tours through the streets of London, and even though I have roots in England and have spent a lot of time in London, he opened my eyes to things I never noticed before.

One day I told him that I preferred to leave very early in the morning to get to class downtown so I could walk through the streets for two hours and take everything in on foot. He just smiled and said, “That’s the way to do it. Walk everywhere. Question everything. And never forget to keep looking up.”

That advice stuck. If you take the L or bus everywhere in Chicago, you are either moving too fast to see everything this wonderful city has to offer, or you are underground and seeing…tunnel walls. If you choose to walk you will start discovering new things. If you look up, instead of just straight in front of you, you will notice all of the gorgeous, historical architecture that is just waiting to tell you its story. Yes, in Chicago the walls do talk, they are just waiting for you to listen.

"Pssst, I have a secret!" - The Monadnock

On Tuesday I joined a tour led by Chicago Architecture Foundation docent Barry Sears on the rise of the skyscraper downtown. Armed with my camera, mobile phone (I Twitpic’d a few photos while on the tour Tuesday), pen and paper, I bring to you know a recap of the tour with some of the most interesting information.

Please note that I in no way cover everything from the tour in this recap and there is still a lot to be learned by doing the tour yourself! :o) Also, check out this Google Map to see we went! It will almost be like you were with us!


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At the turn of the century, Chicago was a centre for innovative architecture. During this time the visionary work from architects like Holabird & Roche, Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham gave rise to the “Chicago School of Architecture” and helped give rise to the skyscraper!

1. Railway Exchange Building (1904)

This is where the tour started (where the CAF is housed). The Railway Exchange building was built in 1904 by Daniel Burnham & co. and has a “square doughnut” plan, or a glass-covered lobby in the center of the offices. This was important because every office needed outside light and natural air circulation since there was no electricity or air conditioning back then!

Square doughnut plan in the Railway Exchange building

The building was clad inside and out in glazed terracotta, and the ornamentation on the outside of the building draws inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement (notice the paintbrush and palette) and Neoclassic art (the cross, naked woman draped in fabric).

The RE building was considered “self-cleaning”, meaning the glazed terracotta washed off with every rainfall. This was advantageous in the early 1900s because Chicago was a coal-burning city and things looked dingy because of the coal residue. Since most of the buildings during that time along Michigan Ave. were built from stone, the Railway Exchange building must have stood out like a bright white thumb!

2. The Art Institute of Chicago (1893)

Designed by Charles Coolidge and finished in 1893, the AIC was first known as the “World’s Congress Auxiliary Building” (aka the visitor’s centre) built for the World’s Columbian Exposition held in the same year. Unlike other buildings on the tour, the AIC is very wide, not tall and has Greek and Roman ornamentation.

You know that book, “Devil in the White City?” well the reason Chicago was called the White City is because of the architecture during the Columbian Exposition. Buildings were made with plaster and horse hair, which looked white compared to the stone buildings.

Interesting fact: The famed Route 66 begins at the Art Institute and ends at Santa Monica Pier!

3. Chapin and Gore building (1904)

I don’t think that anyone thought in 1904 that Chapin and Gore’s liquor distilling firm, designed by architects Richard E. Schmidt and Hugh M.G. Garden would be held in such high esteem today. This building is considered an example of the “Chicago School of Architecture” because of its form-follows-function design. It has a tripartide base with large windows for displaying the liquor they sold. The second and third floors boast compressed windows that were tall to let a lot of light in. This is because those floors were used for storage and thus C&G needed to see what was there.

The next five floors have a centre window to let light in and two sashes of panes flanking it or air circulation. These later became known as Chicago-style windows. See if you can spot this style of window in other buildings on this virtual tour!

I think our docent Mr. Sears put it best when he described this quintessential Chicago building as “practical and honest”. The window shapes let in the maximum amount of light air, and unlike the Art Institute, you can see exactly how many floors it has!

4. State Street (aka that Great Street)

State Street was originally the home of the department store (i.e. Marshall Field’s) and in the early 1900s was known for being a shopping destination. In the 1960s, however, State Street started to go downhill and became kind of a mess. The city wanted to encourage more pedestrian traffic, so in 1979 Mayor Jane Byrne converted the street into a pedestrian mall, allowing only bus traffic to go through.

In the 1990s the city decided that State Street needed to be renovated and include wider sidewalks; period lighting (the street lamps); simple, classy subway kiosks and some greenery.

I asked via Twitter if anyone knew how Chicago got its name and added the hint that the answer is in the picture above, which is a part of the low fencing around the greenery on State Street.

Turns out the name Chicago came from an Indian word meaning wild onion, and the clever architects worked that story into the design of the fence. If you look closely at the above picture you can see that the round bulbs on the bottom are the onions underground and if you follow their stems, you can see that there is a stylised leaf part at the top!

5. The Berghoff (1872)

The Berghoff is the oldest restaurant in Chicago and quite possibly the one structure in the Loop that can give us an idea as to what Chicago buildings looked like before the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. This building is actually comprised of three buildings and has European-style brickwork and was built long before the creation of the elevator!

6. The Marquette Building (1895)

The Marquette is arguably one of the best examples of Chicago’s golden age of architecture and is the archetype of the “Chicago School” skyscraper and was designed by Holabird & Roche. What made a “Chicago School” skyscraper unique? First, it was different from other commercial architecture because it used a steel-frame to form the building’s “skeleton”. Not only did this help distribute the weight across the foundation, but it allowed the frame to be clad in terra cotta to make it fireproof (after the Great Chicago Fire, this became very important!).

Second, the exterior of the building was enclosed in brick and terracotta and windows filled the spaces between the frame. The large masonry piers that you see in the pictures above worked to accent the hidden steel structure. Sneaky! :o)

Since there were no really tall buildings around the time the Marquette was being built, clever architects had to figure out what a tall building should look like. In the “Chicago School” they decided that the facade should be divided into three parts, emphasising the vertical.

A. Thus, the base is large and weighty and has large glass windows so that the commercial building could display things easily and allow a lot of light to come in to their entryway.

B. The middle section is the shaft with long vertical lines that draw the eye up. Also, you can see that these windows are similar to the ones from the Chapin and Gore building: It has three parts with the large fixed centre panel and the two sash windows that can open to allow air circulation.

C. and D. make up the building’s capital. The two small cornices on the 15th and 16th floors are marked by the letter C and the large cornice on the 17th floor is D. Note that C. is part of the original cornice and D. is a newer cornice put in place when the original started to crumble!

Interesting fact: The building was funded by Bostonians and brothers Shepherd and Peter Brooks who never even bothered to visit the Chicago buildings they helped to erect.

Inside the Marquette are gorgeous hand-crafted Tiffany mosaics that feature the travels of Father Jacques Marquette as he explored the New World between 1674 and 1675. It sparkles in the daylight and absolutely should not be missed. You can grab a pamphlet at the front desk and learn about the other decorations created for the building.

7. The Bank of America building (1934)

Americans pioneered the art deco skyscraper. Even though art deco originated in France, Europe has no tall art deco buildings. The Bank of America building features a lot of the same traits as the Chicago Board of Trade and you can learn more about that arm chair-style here. Unlike the CBOT, the BoA building features a “hall through the block” design inside:

Complete with dramatic art deco upward lighting, glossy marble, polished metal and a mirrored walkway, Mr. Sears said that this hallway “looks like speed” and reflects the business of a 30s train station.

The building also features a three-tier wedding cake chandelier that is both elegant and dramatic.

8.  The Rookery building (1886)

A gorgeous Burnham and Root building, The Rookery was named because birds were found to be roosting in the building’s exterior. It was made to look like a Moorish castle from the outside to assure the public it was safe. In the late 1800s a lot of buildings were not so safe and pieces of a building could crumble off and fall on passerbys.

The interior is sunny and has beautiful little details that can only be appreciated by visiting yourself!

9. The Chicago Board of Trade (1930)

(See my article on the CBOT from a previous Chicago Architecture Foundation tour here!)

10. The Monadnock (1881)

Another Burnham and Root building, the Monadnock is the world’s tallest commercial brick building and was a very popular sightseeing destination during the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. There is very little ornamentation and thus the building looks more like a piece of sculpture. Every corner brick had to be hand crafted and baked in a factory, which must have taken an excruciatingly long time and the builders had to be very astute to keep everything organised.

Louis Sullivan said that the building was “an amazing cliff of brick work” (see the very first picture in this post to see what he meant).

11. The Fisher building (1896)

A Daniel Burnham creation, the Fisher Building is a neo-Gothic landmark commissioned by paper magnate Lucius Fisher. Burnham had a lot of fun with the building’s exterior ornamentation, playing up Fisher’s last name by putting sea creatures on the front entrance. The addition of the stone salamanders below were an interesting choice: The chief worry of architects in the late 1800s was fire. Salamanders’ chief worry is also fire since they must remain wet, so adding them showed that building would not catch on fire. Clever!

12. Old Colony building (1894)

Photo courtesy of Panoramio

The Old Colony building is best known for its rounded windows on the corner bays.  Holabird & Roche designed these oriel windows to allow for more sunlight and more interior space. Upon its completion it was the highest building in Chicago standing at 215 feet.

13. The Harold Washington Library Center (1991)  and the Second Leiter Building (aka the Robert Morris Center) (1891)

The HWLC is not a historic landmark, but it is a cool one that is 100 years younger than the Second Leiter Building across the street! If you look closely at the faces on the side of the building, you can see Mr. Windy City, the face of a guy with big cheeks, pursed lips and gusts of wind coming out of his mouth!

The Second Leiter Building is now the Robert Morris Center, but its claim to fame is being the longest standing commercial building with a metal skeleton frame. It was designed to be fireproof and used to house Sears, Roebuck and Company.

14. Auditorium Building (1889)

Once the highest point in the Chicago skyline in 1889, Louis Sullivan’s Auditorium Building was built in the pre-electric era. The function of the tower was to hold water tanks that would power the hydraulic stage equipment!

The auditorium inside is gorgeous and used to house the Chicago operas. Although the opera moved out in 1930, you can still enjoy performances by the Joffrey Ballet!

15. Studebaker Building (1886)

Photo courtesy of A Chicago Sojourn

Now the Fine Arts building, the Studebaker Building used to be a factory where Studebakers were assembled. It has the last manually operated elevator in Chicago, which is pretty darn neat!

And that’s that! I hoped you learned something new about amazing Chicago and its gorgeous architecture! Make sure to check out that Google map!

Dev xx

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