2. • 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.
• The Chicago school of Architects
defines a group of architects and
engineers who in the late 19th
century
developed the skyscraper.
• Chicago in 1885 was the scene of a
great building boom.
• The new construction activity was
more than a rebuilding in more
permanent materials.
Chicago Krause
Chicago Library
Marina City
Tribune Tower
3. • Piling up stories to structures of 18
or more floors accessible by the
elevator that had been developed in
the 1850’s and 60s.
• The first modern architectural
movement was generated in this
cauldron is due to several factors,
not the least of which was the
prevailing cultural climate.
• William LeBaron Jenney's
Home Insurance Building of 1885 is
often considered to be the first to
use steel in its structural frame
instead of cast iron, but this building
was still clad in heavy brick and
stone.
4. • In the history of architecture, 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.
• They developed a spatial aesthetics
which then came to influence,
parallel developments in European
Modernism.
• While the term "Chicago School" is
widely used to describe buildings in
the city during the 1880s and 1890s.
Some of the distinguishing
features of the Chicago School
are the use of steel-frame
buildings with masonry cladding
(usually terra cotta), allowing
large plate-glass window areas
and the use of limited amounts
of exterior ornament.
Crown Hall
5. • Sometimes elements of
neoclassical architecture are
used in Chicago School
skyscrapers.
• Many Chicago School
skyscrapers contain the three
parts of a classical column.
• The first floor functions as the
base, the middle stories,
usually with little ornamental
detail, act as the shaft of the
column, and the last floor or so
represent the capital, with
more ornamental detail and
capped with a cornice.
Chicago Building
6. • The "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.
• 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.
Chicago Window
These windows were often
deployed in bays, known as
oriel windows, that projected out
over the street.
7. • Some of the more
famous Chicago School
buildings include:
• Louis Sullivan's Carson,
Pirie, Scott & Co.
Building
• Reliance Building
• Chicago Building
• Brooks Building
• Monadnock Building
• Wainwright Building
• Architects whose names are
associated with the Chicago
School include
• Henry Hobson Richardson,
• Dankmar Adler,
• Daniel Burnham,
• William Holabird,
• William LeBaron Jenney,
• John Root, and
• Louis Sullivan.
•Frank Lloyd Wright started in the firm of Adler and Sullivan
but created his own Prairie Style of architecture.
•Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who had run the Bauhaus in Germany
before coming to Chicago, is sometimes credited with
the rise of a second "Chicago school" between 1939 and 1975.
12. • The Sullivan Center (formerly
known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott
and Company Building or
Carson, Pirie, Scott and
Compnay Store)is a commercial
building at 1 South State Street in
Chicago, Illinois.
• A Chicago Landmark, the building
was designed by Louis Sullivan,
built in 1899 for the retail firm
Schlesinger & Meyer.
• The building was part of the
Loop Retail Historic District.
• It was used for retail purposes
from 1899 until 2007.
13. • The building is remarkable for its
steel structure, which allowed a
dramatic increase in window
area.
• This has in turn allowed more
daylight into the building
interiors, and provided larger
displays of merchandise to
outside pedestrian traffic.
• The lavish cast-iron ornamental
work above the rounded tower
was also meant to be functional.
• Sullivan designed the corner
entry to be seen from both State
and Madison, and that the
ornamentation, situated above
the main entrance, would be
literally attractive.
The building is one of the classic
structures
of the Chicago school.
The ornate decorative panels
on the lowest stories of the building are
now generally credited to George
Elmslie
who was Sullivan's chief
draftsman after Frank Lloyd Wright
left the firm.
14. • The Wainwright Building is a 10-storey red-brick
landmark office building in downtown St. Louis,
Missouri.
• Built in 1890-91 and designed by Dankmar Adler and
Louis Sullivan, it was among the first skyscrapers in the
world.
• It was named for local financier EllisWainwright.
• Most historians consider theWainwright Building one
of the most important works in American architecture.
• It is described as "a highly influential prototype of the
modern office building" by the National Register of
Historic Places.
• Architect Frank LloydWright called theWainwright
Building "the very first human expression of a tall steel
office-building as Architecture."
15. • Aesthetically, theWainwright Building
exemplifies Sullivan's theories about the
tall building, which included a tripartite
(three-part) composition (base-shaft-
attic), and his desire to emphasize the
height of the building.
• According to him the skyscraper must be
tall, every inch of it tall.
• A building with a strong, vigorously
articulated base supporting a screen that
constitutes a vivid image of powerful
upward movement.
• The ornamentation for the building is
adopted from Notre-Dame de Reims in
France.
• After a period of neglect, the building now
houses Missouri state offices and is well
maintained.