chicago tallest buildings under construction

Chicago tallest buildings under construction how to#

The metal frame of a birdcage inspired architect William Le Baron Jenney to use a similar framework when designing the first modern skyscraper (Artokoloro/Alamy Stock Photo) “Don’t you see? If this little cage can hold this heavy book, why can’t a metal cage be the framework for a whole building?” He strode to the table, picked up the book and dropped it onto the cage several times. Watching her do so, Jenney was intrigued. Wanting to stow the book but finding no space on a table on which stood a birdcage, she placed the book atop the cage. Instantly sensing her husband’s mood, she closed that volume and rose to comfort him. At their house on Bittersweet Place, his wife, Lizzie, had been reading a book of considerable size. Despondent, Jenney closed his roll-top desk and went home. Word of the strike devastated the architect. With a 96-foot fronting on Adams Street and 38 feet on LaSalle, the Home Insurance parcel forbade use of that time-tested technique, as it would mean the company’s employees on the lower floors would be subjected to toiling in cramped quarters and oppressively narrow hallways. But those property owners had assembled parcels broad and deep enough to accommodate the fortress-like bases-walls six feet or more thick-required to support a tall building’s upper floors. In 1875, at Nassau and Spruce streets, the New York Tribune building climbed 10 stories.

In New York City, the Equitable Life Building had opened in 1870 with seven stories above ground and two below street level. The Home Insurance high-rise had antecedents. William Le Baron Jenney (Chicago History Museum/Getty Images) He would have to admit failure to his clients at the Home Insurance Company.

Chicago tallest buildings under construction how to#

Now, even if Jenney could figure out how to build his project, he would not have the materials he needed or the personnel to proceed. The striking tradesmen included members of Bricklayers and Masons International Union Local 21. On May 1, 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions was backing a citywide strike for an eight-hour work week. Although Jenney believed he had figured out that particular riddle, he was now lacking another type of support. In 1884, the city’s commercial buildings rarely stood more than four stories tall, giving him an apparently unsolvable engineering crisis: how to support his structure. Jenney had hoped his latest project would be a reputation-making edifice at Adams and LaSalle Streets meant to rise 10 daring stories above Chicago. CloseĪrchitect William Le Baron Jenney’s spirits were sagging. How This Technology Let Architects Get High. Racing to Build America's Tallest Skyscrapers.