![]() For visitors, there are 2 wonders included in this nomination that perhaps justify inscription together, regardless of the other sites.ġ) Rookery Building (1888) This structure is the gem of the ensemble and is note-worthy for both its exterior and magnificent interior lobby. For example, some structures have little value remaining within as the interior has either been changed, significantly altered, or completed gutted. ![]() I visited each without too much difficulty, however there are different levels of satisfaction. Visually, as a group, these buildings are not surpassing even within the context of just central Chicago, which, in my humble opinion, is the most architecturally impressive big city in the US.Ĭalifornia - United States of America - 15-Mar-18 -Īll nine sites of this serial nomination can be covered in a 30 minute walk, in fact several of these iconic early skyscrapers are adjacent to each other. Any student of architecture will recognize that these buildings represent the turning point in modern construction due to the innovative methods developed in time for their advent. I cannot envision this collection of early skyscrapers ever becoming a World Heritage site in its current form. Conversely, if you stand far enough from the Auditorium Building on Congress Plaza to take in its façade together with the neighboring Fine Arts Building, you may find yourself justifiably perplexed why the former - and not the richer-in-features latter - is part of the inscription (the answer likely lies in the Auditorium Theater being part of the eponymous building - but as Kyle noted, you can only see it if you attend a performance there). I did step into Monadnock - only mildly interesting, certainly not anything exceptional.įrom the exterior, Rookery, Fisher, and Sullivan Center (aka Schlesinger & Mayer Building, aka Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Store) exhibit the most outstanding features. So, I mostly gave up and did not even attempt to enter Marquette or Rookery, which Kyle marked as the most impressive. And because I was moving northward from the southernmost of the buildings, the first five that I stopped by did not exhibit anything of value in their interiors (or could not really be entered). I assumed that all of these buildings allowed some form of easy public access to explore the interiors - and would actually have something to offer in that respect. In a notable fail of the expedition, I did not read Kyle's review below prior to the walk. On a clear day, it is possible to see four states from the top.In May of 2022, I took an hour-plus out of my business-trip itinerary in Chicago to visit the buildings in this serial property. Though no longer the tallest building in the world, the Tower is still title to the world's highest occupiable floor and the highest roof deck, and an elevator ride. The Sears attracts some 1.5 million tourists each year, despite the loss of its title to the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur in 1997. The Tower is fronted by a separate tourist entrance, the Skydeck Pavilion added in 1985 by Skidmore Owings and Merrill. ![]() Above the fiftieth floor, some squares dropped away as the tower rose to create smaller floor plates and a distinctive stepped silhouette. At 1454 feet, its height surpassed the World Trade Center by 100 feet and was, according to Sears "as tall as the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) will let us go." For more than twenty years after its completion in 1974, Sears Tower remained the tallest skyscraper, and it is still the largest.Īs designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Khan of the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), the structure was a "bundled tube" system of nine squares with sides of 75 feet (for an overall 225 x 225 ft), sheathed in a curtain wall of dark tinted glass. ![]() The building slowly stretched to 4.5 million ft2 and 110 stories, and in July 1970, Sears trumpeted its plans for the world's tallest building. The first designs were for a boxy structure exclusively for Sears, but the architects and real estate advisors pressed for a taller tower with upper floors for tenants. The company determined it needed 3 million ft2 of office space with floors of 50,000 ft2 to accommodate its 13,000 employees in their major departments. In the late 1960s, Sears Roebuck and Company, then the world's largest retailer with $8.9 billion in sales, decided to consolidate its administrative operations in downtown Chicago.
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