Two New Chicago Architectural Gems
This is a city of architectural genius that greatly influenced American buildings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries–the Chicago School, the Prairie School and the giants–Sullivan, Burnham, Root, Adler, Wright, Mies van der Rohe and Goldberg. The first skyscraper was built in Chicago and it is a city always under construction and always welcoming new ideas.
Here are some of the gems from the early 20th century.
A Prairie School sample. Oak Park is a Wright treasure trove–his Unity Temple, about a dozen private residences and his original home and studio.
Marina City on the river is an early “city within the city” designed so workers could live downtown without a long commute to work. Bertrand Goldberg’s 1960s residential/commercial development was prescient. These integrated villages within large building complexes in dense urban settings is a movement gaining ground today especially in China.
Millennium Park near the Art Institute was created atop railroad tracks. It’s a fantastic green space in the heart of the City. Frank Geahry designed this one. Where have we seen this form before? LA’s Disney Music Hall on Bunker Hill–Guggenheim Bilbao.
Two new buildings created quite a stir in Chicago.
Trump Tower (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) on the river enlivens its early 20th century classic neighbors clustered around the Chicago Tribune Building. My Chicago friends don’t like it–too New York City–it doesn’t fit. They say it has one saving grace–the mirror skin reflects the old skyscrapers on both sides of the river. Sorry Donald.
I’ve been entranced by Jeanne Gang’s new building Aqua so I had to see it but it wasn’t easy. Chicago doesn’t have a regular urban grid–well it does but in some parts of downtown there are the surface streets and then a whole other street grid down a level. It can get frustrating going up and down stairs to find the right place.
Not many right angles at Aqua–patterns of mirrored glass and undulating balconies emulating the flow of the lake and river soften the facade. Aqua is a fantastic structure hidden in a jungle of mundane modernity. BTW, Gang was named a MacArthur Fellow last week–half a million, tax-free.
I like these new Chicagoans. They blend well with the beefy 20th century buildings and the lighter modern mix that followed. The new arrivals carry on a rich tradition of a constantly changing skyline.
You can see the work of Chicago architects in San Francisco. The first Chronicle Building on Market @ Kearney is Burnham and Root’s work. Built in 1889 it was San Francisco’s first skyscraper. The 1906 damage repair was done by Willis Polk who ran the Burnham SF office. The building was “modernized” in the 60s–covered in a white marble facade. The most recent renovation added a new structure on top and luckily uncovered the original facade. The Mills Building on Montgomery is by Sullivan and Root too. Frank Lloyd Wright’s building on Maiden Lane is said to be a precursor of his Guggenheim Museum in New York City.
Can’t wait to get back to this great city and dig deeper to discover all it has to offer.
