The Chicago School refers to two architectural styles derived from the architecture of Chicago. In the history of architecture, the first Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago in the late 19th, and at the turn of the 20th century. They were among the first to promote the new technologies of steel-frame construction in commercial buildings, and developed a spatial aesthetic which co-evolved with, and then came to influence, parallel developments in European Modernism. Much of its early work is also known as Commercial Style.[1]
The Chicago Building by Holabird & Roche (1904–1905) is a prime example of the Chicago School, displaying both variations of the Chicago window
A "Second Chicago School" with a modernist aesthetic emerged in the 1940s through 1970s, which pioneered new building technologies and structural systems, such as the tube-frame structure.[2]
Historically unprecedented grid of wide windows, clear expression of structural frame, and minimalist ornamentation on the Marquette Building (1895).
While the term "Chicago School" is widely used to describe buildings constructed in the city during the 1880s and 1890s, this term has been disputed by scholars, in particular in reaction to Carl Condit's 1952 book The Chicago School of Architecture. Historians such as H. Allen Brooks, Winston Weisman and Daniel Bluestone have pointed out that the phrase suggests a unified set of aesthetic or conceptual precepts, when, in fact, Chicago buildings of the era displayed a wide variety of styles and techniques. Contemporary publications used the phrase "Commercial Style" to describe the innovative tall buildings of the era, rather than proposing any sort of unified "school."
A steel skeletal frame, like that of the Fisher Building (1895-1896), meant the height of a building was no longer limited by the strength of its walls.
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 limiting the amount of exterior ornamentation. Sometimes elements of neoclassical architecture are used in Chicago School skyscrapers. Many Chicago School skyscrapers contain the three parts of a classical column. The lowest floors functions as the base, the middle stories, usually with little ornamental detail, act as the shaft of the column, and the last floor or two, often capped with a cornice and often with more ornamental detail, represent the capital.
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, 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.
Willis Tower, completed in 1973, introduced the bundled tube structural system and was the world's tallest building until 1998
In the 1940s, a "Second Chicago School" emerged from the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his efforts of education at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Mies sought to concentrate on neutral architectural forms instead of historicist ones, and the standard Miesian building is characterized by the presence of large glass panels and the use of steel for vertical and horizontal members.[3]
The Second Chicago School's first and purest expression was the 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments (1951) and their technological achievements. The structural engineer for the Lake Shore Drive Apartments project was Georgia Louise Harris Brown, who was the first African-American to receive an architecture degree from the University of Kansas, and second African-American woman to receive an architecture license in the United States.[4]
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, a Chicago-based architectural firm, was the first to erect buildings conforming to the features of the Second Chicago School. Myron Goldsmith, Bruce Graham, Walter Netsch, and Fazlur Khan were among its most influential architects.[3] The Bangladeshi-born structural engineer Khan introduced a new structural system of framed tubes in skyscraper design and construction.[2] The tube structure, formed by closely spaced interconnected exterior columns, resists "lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation."[5] About half the exterior surface is available for windows. Where larger openings like garage doors are required, the tube frame must be interrupted, with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity. The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building, which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1963.[6] This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers, including his own John Hancock Center and Willis Tower.[7]
Today, there are different styles of architecture all throughout the city, such as the Chicago School, neo-classical, art deco, modern, and postmodern.
^Ali, Mir M. (2001). "Evolution of Concrete Skyscrapers: from Ingalls to Jin mao". Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering. 1 (1): 2–14. doi:10.56748/ejse.1111. S2CID 251690475. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
Further readingEdit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chicago school architecture.
Condit, Carl W. The Chicago school of architecture: a history of commercial and public building in the Chicago area, 1875-1925. University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Leslie, Thomas. Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934. University of Illinois Press, 2013.
October 16, 2023
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For other uses see Chicago school disambiguation The Chicago School refers to two architectural styles derived from the architecture of Chicago In the history of architecture the first Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago in the late 19th and at the turn of the 20th century They were among the first to promote the new technologies of steel frame construction in commercial buildings and developed a spatial aesthetic which co evolved with and then came to influence parallel developments in European Modernism Much of its early work is also known as Commercial Style 1 The Chicago Building by Holabird amp Roche 1904 1905 is a prime example of the Chicago School displaying both variations of the Chicago windowA Second Chicago School with a modernist aesthetic emerged in the 1940s through 1970s which pioneered new building technologies and structural systems such as the tube frame structure 2 Contents 1 First Chicago School 1 1 Buildings in Chicago 1 2 Buildings outside Chicago 2 Second Chicago School 3 See also 4 References 5 Further readingFirst Chicago School Edit nbsp Historically unprecedented grid of wide windows clear expression of structural frame and minimalist ornamentation on the Marquette Building 1895 While the term Chicago School is widely used to describe buildings constructed in the city during the 1880s and 1890s this term has been disputed by scholars in particular in reaction to Carl Condit s 1952 book The Chicago School of Architecture Historians such as H Allen Brooks Winston Weisman and Daniel Bluestone have pointed out that the phrase suggests a unified set of aesthetic or conceptual precepts when in fact Chicago buildings of the era displayed a wide variety of styles and techniques Contemporary publications used the phrase Commercial Style to describe the innovative tall buildings of the era rather than proposing any sort of unified school nbsp A steel skeletal frame like that of the Fisher Building 1895 1896 meant the height of a building was no longer limited by the strength of its walls 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 limiting the amount of exterior ornamentation Sometimes elements of neoclassical architecture are used in Chicago School skyscrapers Many Chicago School skyscrapers contain the three parts of a classical column The lowest floors functions as the base the middle stories usually with little ornamental detail act as the shaft of the column and the last floor or two often capped with a cornice and often with more ornamental detail represent the capital 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 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 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 The Home Insurance Building which some regarded as the first skyscraper in the world was built in Chicago in 1885 and was demolished in 1931 Buildings in Chicago Edit Photo Name Year nbsp Leiter I Building 1879 nbsp Montauk Building 1882 1883 nbsp Rookery Building 1886 nbsp Auditorium Building 1889 nbsp Leiter II Building 1891 nbsp Ludington Building 1891 1892 nbsp Monadnock Building 1891 1893 nbsp Reliance Building 1890 1895 nbsp Marquette Building 1895 nbsp Fisher Building 1895 1896 nbsp Gage Group Buildings 1898 nbsp Sullivan Center 1899 nbsp Heyworth Building 1904 nbsp Chicago Building 1904 1905 nbsp Brooks Building 1910 nbsp Transportation Building Heisen Building 1910 1911Buildings outside Chicago Edit Photo Name Year Localization nbsp Wainwright Building 1891 St Louis Missouri nbsp Mills Building and Tower 1892 San Francisco California nbsp Goodspeed Brothers Building 1895 Grand Rapids Michigan nbsp Prudential Guaranty Building 1896 Buffalo New York nbsp Union Bank Building 1904 Winnipeg Manitoba Canada nbsp Blount Building 1907 Pensacola Florida nbsp Consultancy House 1910 Dunedin New Zealand nbsp Old National Bank Building 1910 Spokane Washington nbsp Swetland Building 1910 Cleveland Ohio nbsp Kearns Building 1911 Salt Lake City Utah nbsp St James Building 1912 Jacksonville Florida nbsp Western Auto Building 1914 Kansas City Missouri nbsp McLeod Building 1915 Edmonton Canada nbsp LifeSavers Building 1920 Port Chester NY nbsp Nicholas Building 1926 Melbourne AustraliaSecond Chicago School EditSee also Tube structure nbsp Willis Tower completed in 1973 introduced the bundled tube structural system and was the world s tallest building until 1998In the 1940s a Second Chicago School emerged from the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his efforts of education at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago Mies sought to concentrate on neutral architectural forms instead of historicist ones and the standard Miesian building is characterized by the presence of large glass panels and the use of steel for vertical and horizontal members 3 The Second Chicago School s first and purest expression was the 860 880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments 1951 and their technological achievements The structural engineer for the Lake Shore Drive Apartments project was Georgia Louise Harris Brown who was the first African American to receive an architecture degree from the University of Kansas and second African American woman to receive an architecture license in the United States 4 Skidmore Owings amp Merrill a Chicago based architectural firm was the first to erect buildings conforming to the features of the Second Chicago School Myron Goldsmith Bruce Graham Walter Netsch and Fazlur Khan were among its most influential architects 3 The Bangladeshi born structural engineer Khan introduced a new structural system of framed tubes in skyscraper design and construction 2 The tube structure formed by closely spaced interconnected exterior columns resists lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation 5 About half the exterior surface is available for windows Where larger openings like garage doors are required the tube frame must be interrupted with transfer girders used to maintain structural integrity The first building to apply the tube frame construction was the DeWitt Chestnut Apartment Building which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1963 6 This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers including his own John Hancock Center and Willis Tower 7 Today there are different styles of architecture all throughout the city such as the Chicago School neo classical art deco modern and postmodern See also EditArchitecture of Chicago Chicago Landmarks Early Commercial architecture Chicago Seven architects Palazzo style architectureReferences Edit Commercial style definition Dictionary of Wisconsin History Wisconsin Historical Society Retrieved 2007 06 26 a b Billington David P 1985 The Tower and the Bridge The New Art of Structural Engineering Princeton University Press pp 234 5 ISBN 0 691 02393 X a b Franz Schulze 2005 Architecture The Second Chicago School Chicago Historical Society Built By Women 800 Lakeshore Drive Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation 2011 Archived from the original on 2013 04 24 Evolution of Concrete Skyscrapers Archived from the original on 2007 06 05 Retrieved 2007 05 14 Alfred Swenson amp Pao Chi Chang 2008 building construction Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 2008 12 09 Ali Mir M 2001 Evolution of Concrete Skyscrapers from Ingalls to Jin mao Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering 1 1 2 14 doi 10 56748 ejse 1111 S2CID 251690475 Retrieved 2008 11 30 Further reading Edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chicago school architecture Condit Carl W The Chicago school of architecture a history of commercial and public building in the Chicago area 1875 1925 University of Chicago Press 1973 Leslie Thomas Chicago Skyscrapers 1871 1934 University of Illinois Press 2013 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Chicago school architecture amp oldid 1176186900, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
