2. CHICAGO SCHOOL 1 Introduction ORIGIONS Also Known as
Commercial style, the Chicago school was a school of architects
active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. They were among
the first to promote the new technologies of steel-frame
construction in commercial buildings. A "Second Chicago School"
later emerged in the 1940s and 1970s which pioneered new building
technologies and structural systems. The architecture of Chicago
has influenced and reflected the history of American architecture.
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. Many
world-famous architects played a significant role in the
development of Chicago -- rising from the ashes of the 1871 Great
Chicago Fire into one of the world's largest cities and greatest
collections of modern architecture.
3. CHICAGO SCHOOL 2 While there were many reasons for the
emergence of this school one of the major once were: The 1871
devastating fire in Chicago that created the need of rebuilding the
city and also Architects were encouraged to build higher structures
because of the escalating land prices. Quickly, the low buildings
constructed just after the fire were seen as an inefficient use of
valuable space. By 1890 Chicago had a population of more than a
million people and had surpassed Philadelphia to become the
second-largest metropolis in the United States. So now Chicago was
ready to experiment with daring solutions and would now be the
place where the tall office building would be perfected. One of the
keys to this development was the invention of the safety elevator.
The early structures of Chicago such as the Montauk had traditional
load-bearing walls of brick and stone, but it was the metal
skeleton frame that allowed the architects of the First Chicago
School to perfect their signature building, the skyscraper. THE
FIRST CHICAGO SCHOOL The First Safety Elevator The 1871 devastating
fire in Chicago
4. CHICAGO SCHOOL 3 The development of the skyscraper can be
understood not only as an architectural style, but as the
manifestation of the Chicago fire 1871 turned into redemption.
Designed by William Le Baron Jenney, the home insurance building
was an icon. He devised a solution to the problem of fireproof
construction for tall buildings. What he did was substituting steel
in the structural system for cast iron, which melts at high
temperatures clad the buildings exterior with traditional masonry.
This new construction, while costly, had overwhelming advantages.
It was almost fireproof; the thin curtain walls hung from the steel
frame allowed for more interior rental space; new floors could be
added easily; and since the exterior walls were no longer essential
to holding up the building, they could be cut away and replaced by
ever larger expanses of glass, an important consideration in the
early era of electrical lighting. The Home Insurance Building,
which some regarded as the first skyscraper in the world, was built
in Chicago in 1885. INVENTION OF THE SKYSCRAPER
5. CHICAGO SCHOOL 4The "Chicago window" originated in this
school. It is a three-part window consisting of a large fixed
center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows. The
arrangement of windows on the facade typically creates a grid
pattern, with some projecting out from the facade forming bay
windows. The Chicago window combined the functions of
light-gathering and natural ventilation; a single central pane was
usually fixed, while the two surrounding panes were operable. These
windows were often deployed in bays, known as oriel windows that
projected out over the street. The Chicago window combined the
functions of light- gathering and natural ventilation; a single
central pane was usually fixed, while the two surrounding panes
were operable. Bay Windows Facing The street
6. CHICAGO SCHOOL 5 The first design breakthrough by the
Chicago School was in the area of structural foundations. It arose
largely because Chicago was built on marshy ground, which was
unable to support tall buildings. Frederick Baumann suggested that
each vertical foundation of a building should stand on a wide pad
that would distribute its weight more widely over the marshy land.
A decade later, Daniel Burnham and John Root incorporated this
exact same idea in their Montauk Building But this type of
foundation took up too much basement space and was only able to
support a structure of 10 stories in height. The way forward was
provided by Dankmar Adler who devise a foundation "raft" of
timbers, steel beams, and iron I-beams. An idea used successfully
in the construction of Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Building
(1889). Adler made a final improvement in 1894 when he invented a
type of underground, watertight foundation structure for the
Chicago Stock Exchange which quickly became the template foundation
for skyscrapers across the United States. The first series of
high-rises in both New York and Chicago had traditional
load-bearing walls of stone and brick. Unfortunately, these could
not support super tall structures, a problem which stimulated
Chicago School designers to invent a metal skeleton frame - first
used in Jenney's Home Insurance Building (1884) - that enabled the
construction of real skyscrapers. A metal frame was virtually
fireproof and, since the walls no longer carried the building's
weight, enabled architects to use thinner curtain walls, thus
freeing up more usable space. The same applied to the exterior
walls, which could now be replaced by glass, reducing the amount of
electrical lights required. An important European influence in the
use of metal skeletal frames, was the French architect
Viollet-le-Duc. What Were The Characteristic Design Of The First
Chicago School ? Foundations Steel Frames
7. CHICAGO SCHOOL 6 Chicago architects had a new set of
skyscraper aesthetics, the driving force for this style of
aesthetics emanated from two totally different sources: architect
Henry Hobson Richardson and the very nature of the material newly
adopted which was steel. The first was the architect Henry Hobson
Richardson. His ideal was the rugged Romanesque of the South of
France. In 1870 on Boston's Commonwealth Avenue, Richardson
designed the trailblazing Romanesque revival Brattle Square Church,
whose tower fired the architectural aspirations of Boston native
Louis Sullivan when he was a student at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. And it was the revelatory presence of Richardson's
Marshall Field Wholesale Store of 1885, filling the block bounded
by Adams, Quincy, Wells, and Franklin Streets, that radically
altered the design of Adler & Sullivan's Auditorium Building.
Sullivan's original sketches were for an eclectic structure
terminating in a high, gabled roof. After the appearance of the
Field edifice, Sullivan swept away his original plans and replaced
them with a virile, restrained Romanesque revival structure with a
single massive tower. "Richardsonian Romanesque" also influenced
Solon S. Beman in his design of both the brick and granite Pullman
Building (1883) and the Fine Arts Building (1885), and Burnham
& Root's design for the Rookery Building (1885-87). But perhaps
the greatest master of Romanesque skyscraper design was Sullivan -
notably in his interior of the Auditorium Building and the entrance
to the Chicago Stock Exchange Building (1893-94) - although he was
the first to embrace the new vertical shape entailed by buildings
that for the first time had greater height than width. Stylistic
Influence Of the School
8. CHICAGO SCHOOL 7 The second source of stylistic inspiration
for the First Chicago School, stemmed from the nature of their
prime building material: steel. The physical attributes of this
crucial material lent themselves to the creation of the sinuous
curve, an outcome which made it a perfect match for the fashionable
style known as Art Nouveau, which was a feature of both the Rookery
Building and Chicago Stock Exchange. Steel also facilitated the
emergence of the right angle, boldly expressed in Holabird and
Roche's 13-story Tacoma Building (1889). This idiom was also an
important factor in the upper floors of Adler & Sullivan's
Stock Exchange Building, and most exquisitely in the sense of the
sharp edges of the steel frame lying just beneath the thin,
terracotta and glass walls of Burnham & Root's Reliance
Building (1895).
9. CHICAGO SCHOOL 8 Architects whose names are associated with
the Chicago School include Henry Hobson Richardson, Dankmar Adler,
Daniel Burnham, William Holabird, William LeBaron Jenney, Martin
Roche, John Root, Solon S. Beman, and Louis Sullivan. Frank Lloyd
Wright started in the firm of Adler and Sullivan but created his
own Prairie Style of architecture. Who Were the Greatest Architects
of the First Chicago School
10. CHICAGO SCHOOL 9 Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn
root ; Was one of Chicagos most famous architectural companies of
the nineteenth century. It was established by John Wellborn root
and Daniel Hudson Burnham. During their eighteen years of
partnership, they designed and built res identical and commercial
buildings. Their success was crowned with the coordination of the
worlds Columbian exposition (worlds fair) in 1893. The two men meet
when they worked as apprentice draftsmen in the office of Drake,
Carter, and Wight in 1872. A year later they established their own
architecture office and began work by building private residences
for the wealthy families which allowed them to establish a basis
for their business. Some of their works are; Montezuma castle
(hotel), Rookery building, Heyworth building, Luzon building,
Sydney Kent house and more. Notable Mentions : Architects of the
first Chicago School
11. CHICAGO SCHOOL 10The Rookery Building is a historic
landmark Completed by John wellborn root and Daniel Burnham root in
1888, it is considered one of their masterpiece buildings, and was
once the location of their office. Rookery Building The building
measures 181 feet (55 m), is twelve stories tall and is considered
the oldest standing high-rise in Chicago. It has a unique style
with exterior load-bearing walls and an interior steel frame, which
provided a transition between accepted and new building techniques.
The lobby was remodeled in 1905 by Frank Lloyd Wright. Beginning in
1989, the lobby was restored to the original Wright design. The
name of the building is an indirect reference to the old City Hall
building that occupied the land before the Rookery. That building
was nicknamed the Rookery not only in reference to the crows and
pigeons that inhabited its exterior walls, but also because of the
shady politicians it housed.
12. CHICAGO SCHOOL 11 Making prodigious use of light and
ornamentation, Root and Burnham designed a central light court to
serve as the focal point for the entire building and provide
daylight to interior offices. Rising two stories, the light court
received immediate critical acclaim. "There is nothing bolder, more
original, or more inspiring in modern civic architecture than its
glass-covered court", wrote Eastern critic Henry Van Brunt.The
central tower over the entrance in 2011 The Rookery's light court
serves as a focal point for the entire building
13. 12 Frank Lloyd Wright had his offices in the building in
1898 1899. In 1905 Wright received the commission to redesign the
lobby in the building. Wright's work on the Rookery recast the
entryway in his prairie style and added a sense of modernity
through his simple but effective lighting design. Among Wright's
most significant alterations was the addition of white marble with
Persian-style ornamentation. The marble and decorative details
added a sense of luxury to the lobby's steel-laden interior, marked
by Burnham and Root's skeletal metal ribbing. The entire interior
space is bright and open. A double set of curving, heavily
ornamented stairs wind upward from the lobby's second floor into
the building's interior. A wrap-around balcony on the second floor
enhances the feeling of being within the interior of a clockwork
The Wright remodel opened the building up to more of the available
light. CHICAGO SCHOOL
14. CHICAGO SCHOOL 13 The Reliance Building is a skyscraper
located at 1 W. Washington Street in the Loop community of Chicago,
Illinois. The first floor and basement were designed by john root
of the Burnham and root architectural firm in 1890, with the rest
of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood in 1895. It is the
first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the
majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a design feature that
would become dominant in the 20th century. The Reliance Building
was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970; and
on January 7, 1976, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.
Building, one of the few offices in downtown Chicago to partially
survive the Great Fire. Hale was the founder of the Hale Elevator
Company, an early producer of hydraulic elevators necessary in
skyscraper design. Hale envisioned a new tower on the site, but
first needed to raze the existing structure. However, its tenants
did not want to terminate their leases. Reliance Building
15. CHICAGO SCHOOL 14 Daniel Burnham recruited Boston architect
Charles B. Atwood to complete the building with E. C. Shankland as
lead engineer. After raising the original building's remaining
three floors Atwood used white glazed architectural terra-cotta
cladding, a feature that would later become strongly associated
with him following his works for the Worlds Columbian Worlds
Columbian exposition in 1893. The steel framing on the top ten
floors was completed over fifteen days, from July 16 to August 1,
1895. The Reliance Building, so named for its functionality, opened
in March 1895. It was one of the first skyscrapers to offer
electricity and phone service in all of its offices. In its first
few decades, it provided office space for merchants and health
professionals, and dentist.
16. CHICAGO SCHOOL 15 The Reliance Building has been called
"proto-Modernist" in its lack of the hierarchy found in classical
facades. Its stacks of projecting bay windows and terra-cotta
cladding create an effect of extraordinary lightness. Its steel
frame construction is physically light as well, being one-third the
weight of an equivalent stone structure. It was a direct precursor
of the all- glass Friedrichstrasse skyscraper proposed by Mies van
der rohe in 1921. The addition of the remaining floors in 18941895
completed the building and marked the "first comprehensive
achievement" of the Chicago construction method. The building's
plate-glass windows are set within the terra-cotta-tiled facade.
Its steel- frame superstructure is built atop concrete caissons
sunk as much as 125 feet beneath the footing.
17. CHICAGO SCHOOL 16 Louis Henry Sullivan (1856 1924) was an
American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers"
and "father of modernism". He is considered by many as the creator
of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic
of the Chicago school, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an
inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be
known as the Prairie school. Along with Henry Hobson Richardson and
Wright, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American
architecture. Louis Sullivan Form follows function would become one
of the prevailing tenets of modern architects.
18. CHICAGO SCHOOL 17 Another signature element of Sullivan's
work is the massive, semi-circular arch. Sullivan employed such
arches throughout his careerin shaping entrances, in framing
windows, or as interior design.
19. CHICAGO SCHOOL 18 Also known as the Wainwright Building is
a Ten story red brick office building at 709 Chestnut Street in
downtown Louis, Missouri. The Wainwright Building is among the
first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler
and Louis Sullivan built between 1890 and 1891. The Wainwright
Building
20. CHICAGO SCHOOL 19 As designed, the first floor of the
Wainwright Building was intended for street-accessible shops, with
the second floor filled with easily accessible public offices. The
higher floors were for "honeycomb" offices, while the top floor was
for water tanks and building machinery. Aesthetically, the
Wainwright Building exemplifies Sullivan's theories about the tall
building, which included a tripartite (three-part) composition
(base-shaft-attic) based on the structure of the classical column.
And his desire to emphasize the height of the building. He wrote:
"[The skyscraper] must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force
and power of altitude must be in it the glory and pride of
exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch a proud and soaring
thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom to top it is a
unit without a single dissenting line. The Wainwright Building
21. CHICAGO SCHOOL 20The base contained retail stores that
required wide glazed openings; Sullivan's ornament made the
supporting piers read as pillars. Above it the semi-public nature
of offices up a single flight of stairs are expressed as broad
windows in the curtain wall. A cornice separates the second floor
from the grid of identical windows of the screen wall, where each
window is "a cell in a honeycomb, nothing more"". The building's
windows and horizontals were inset slightly behind columns and
piers, as part of a vertical aesthetic to create what Sullivan
called a proud and soaring thing. This perception has since been
criticized as the skyscraper were designed to make money, not to
serve as a symbol. The ornamentation for the building includes a
wide frieze below the deep cornice, which expresses the formalized
yet naturalistic celery-leaf foliage typical of Sullivan and
published in his System of Architectural Ornament, decorated
spandrels between the windows on the different floors and an
elaborate door surround at the main entrance. "Apart from the
slender brick piers, the only solids of the wall surface are the
spandrel panels between the windows..... They have rich decorative
patterns in low relief, varying in design and scale with each
story." The building includes embellishments of terra cotta, a
building material that was gaining popularity at the time of
construction. In 1968, the building was designated as a National
Historic Landmark and in 1972 it was named a city landmark.
22. CHICAGO SCHOOL 21 List of the most important high-rise
buildings associated with the First Chicago School of architecture,
together with the architects responsible. - First Leiter Building
(1879) William Le Baron Jenney - The Montauk Building (Montauk
Block) (1882-83) Burnham and Root - Pullman Building (1883) Solon
S. Beman - Home Insurance Building (1884) William Le Baron Jenney -
Marshall Field Warehouse (Chicago) (1885-7) H.H.Richardson. -
Rookery Building (1885-87) Burnham and Root - Chamber of Commerce
Building (1888-9) Edward Baumann & Harris W. Huehl. - Tacoma
Building (Chicago) (1889) Holabird & Roche - Second Leiter
Building (1889-91) William Le Baron Jenney - Auditorium Building
(1889) Adler and Sullivan - Fisher Building (1895-6) Designed by
Charles Atwood, D.H.Burnham - Sullivan Center (Carson, Pirie, Scott
& Company Building) (1899) Sullivan - Gage Group Buildings
(1899) (at S. Michigan Avenue) Holabird & Roche - Flatiron
Building, New York (1901-3) D.H.Burnham & Company - Heyworth
Building (1904) D.H.Burnham & Company - Reliance Building
(1890-95) John Root and Charles B. Atwood - Rand McNally Building
(1890) Burnham and Root - Wainwright Building, St. Louis, Missouri
(1890-91) Adler and Sullivan - Monadnock Building (Monadnock Block)
(1889-91) Burnham and Root - Schiller Theatre Building (Garrick
Theater) (1891-93) Adler and Sullivan - Chicago Stock Exchange
Building (1893-94) Adler and Sullivan - Prudential Building
(Guaranty Building) Buffalo (1894) Adler and Sullivan - Marquette
Building (1895) Holabird & Roche - Chicago Building (Chicago
Savings Bank Building) (1904-5) Holabird & Roche - Brooks
Building (1909-10) Holabird & Roche Famous Skyscrapers Designed
by the First Chicago School
23. CHICAGO SCHOOL 22 Conclusively, the First Chicago School
was an astonishing and a profoundly important achievement. The
Chicago World Fair of 1893 signaled the end of the city's dominance
in skyscraper design, although its reputation would soon be
restored with the emergence of the Second Chicago School. Its
matchless tradition of technical skills and aesthetic boldness
would surface again in Chicago in the 1930s with the arrival of the
Bauhaus, and in the following decades in the work of Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe and his followers, along with the outstanding
multi-disciplinary achievements of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
(SOM), formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel
Owings.
24. CHICAGO SCHOOL 23 Introduction and Origin THE SECOND
CHICAGO SCHOOL In the 1940s, a new wave of building design - known
today as the Second Chicago School of architecture " emerged from
the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his efforts of education
at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Its first and
purest expression was the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
(1951) and their technological achievements.
25. CHICAGO SCHOOL 24The first building to apply the tube-frame
construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building which Khan
designed and was completed in Chicago by 1963. This laid the
foundations for the tube structures of many other later
skyscrapers.
26. CHICAGO SCHOOL 25The Second Chicago School is famous for
structures like the Lake Shore Drive Apartments (1948-51), and the
Seagram Building (1954-58). The principal firm of architects
associated with the Second Chicago School is Skidmore, Owings and
Merrill, whose breakthroughs in design and structural engineering
during the 1960s, spearheaded by Fazlur Khan, confirmed America as
the undisputed leader in high-rise 20th-Century architecture and
led to a new generation of supertall towers. Interior