Monumental Lighting #3- 212 W. Washington

This 1911 building has a lot in common with the one at 311 W. Washington.  Both were commissioned by the Chicago Telephone Company and both were designed in the historicist mode by their favorite architects, Holabird & Roche.  And of course, both have huge metal lanterns flanking their main entrance.  While 311 Washington was used for switchboards and mechanicals, this 20-story building was the administrative headquarters.  It has the same quasi-public feel that all of these phone company buildings assumed.

This view is a little narrower than I would have preferred (reference photo taken from the 12th floor of a nearby parking garage),but you can see that it's in keeping with the classic skyscraper formula of base, shaft and capital.  This has been somewhat obscured by hanging metal balconies along Washington, which accompanied the 1990s condo conversion.  It was a pleasure to eliminate these from the sketch.  Several of the lower floors were hollowed out to provide indoor parking, which they've made no attempt to hide.  It looks pretty odd from the street, although probably most people don't notice.

The main entrance to the building is indicated by these two story arched openings with decorative keystones.  Above are stone balconies hung with stone festoons.  The 3-story base is capped with a substantial projecting cornice.  The rusticated stone blocks really give the building a distinct identity.  The ornamentation is best described as a combination of Classical and Rennaissance Revival. 

Looking at this drawing I realize how much I've let this project get out of hand.  My first intention was just to focus on the decorative entrance lanterns in the Loop.  Then I thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if a reader could place these in context with the rest of the building?"  So I decided to include a couple of rough sketches.  This rough sketch took a week and a half to finish.

Of course the whole point was to look at the lanterns, and these are particularly good ones, weathered to a noble green patina.  Leave it to Holabird & Roche to get the details right, from the dome decorated with a leaf pattern (similar to the keystone design) to the acanthus patterns and scrollwork.  And the brackets that support the lights are works of art in themselves.  I'm also impressed that they accomodated the lantern attachment by eliminating a portion of the rustication to create a unbroken area of flat stone.  It also points out how artificial (a modernist might say unnecessary) the ornamental scheme is to the structure of the building. 

I think this will be the last entry in this series.  I have reference photos for one more building (on Washington, of course), but it's probably time to move on to some other things.

Monumental Lighting #2, 311 W. Washington

311-27 W. Washington

This is the outline of the Franklin Exchange, built in 1915 and designed by the legendary Chicago firm of Holabird & Roche.  Their involvement in designing telephone exchanges is examined in Robert Bruegmann's excellent book, "The Architects and the City."  Holabird & Roche were responsible for dozens of these moderately-scaled exchanges, many of which can still be found in various neighborhoods, now retrofit for automated operations.  They're notable for their quality as well as their tendency to resemble public buildings, which must have been a branding choice made by the Chicago Telephone Company.  But in this case the design pretty much resembles a typical speculative office building in the Loop, built in a Venetian Gothic historicist mode.

Main entrance on Washington

To the right is the main entry on Washington, with its pointed arch and trefoil cornice.  The first floor  is clad with Bedford stone (granite), and the upper stories are mainly red brick.  The blocked windows suggest huge banks of computers at work.  Not much resemblance to the switchboards of 1915, but probably more delicate.  And of course, the entrance is flanked by a couple of huge copper lanterns.

Lantern flanking entrance

These lanterns are mounted below the spring point of the arch, and appear to be oxidized copper (maybe brass?) ornamented with cast leaves, rosettes and finials.  Many of these elements are cast in shapes to suggest wrought ornament. I must associate Gothic with church architecture, because these looks vaguely ecclesiastical to me.  The temple of the telephone?  Interestingly, the glass panes are prism glass, which was commonly used in storefront transoms to redirect and intensify light for retail spaces. Once again, these lanterns are in scale with the 2-story entry rather than the pedestrians.  I'm guessing they're about 5 feet high, from top to bottom. 

Just like 35 E. Wacker, I've never seen these lit.  I'm sure they were never intended to shed much useful light, but it would be nice to see them glowing in the evening.  Especially at this time of year, when it's dark at 4:30. 

Monumental Lighting #1- 35 E. Wacker



View from E. Wacker Drive



Recently I've been interested in the massive lanterns found on many historic skyscrapers downtown.  Sure they're lousy at casting any useful light, but they seem to pull their weight in other ways. I thought it would be interesting to examine a few of these buildings and their light fixtures to see if I could identify some controlling principles related to their size,  location, and design.

Just to set the stage, 35 E. Wacker Building has been a Chicago Landmark since 1994.  Originally known as the Jewelers' Building, it was completed in 1927. The main building is 23 stories tall and is topped with an 18 story tower.  The first floor is covered with grey limestone and the rest of the building is beige terra cotta.  The domed pavilions at the corners of the main tower originally concealed water towers for the sprinkler system.



Main Entrance on Wacker Drive



The portals at the second and third floors are masterpieces of ornamentation with carefully composed cornices, frames and decorative spandrels.  The Chicago landmark designation report identifies the ornament as primarily early Italian Renaissance, borrowing liberally from church designs.  It notes that typical decorative treatments in this style present the most aggressive decorations at the street level, becoming more sophisticated (restrained) at higher elevations.  That works for this building, at least until you hit the domes, which are like a Baroque hallucination. 

Original marketing material for the building indicates that the design "was based on that of the 15th century chapel for the monastery of the Certosa of Pavia..."  Sure, I can see that. Kind of. 

Lantern details

But that's not to ignore the the most important part of the building-- the four enormous brass lanterns projecting out from the second floor!  These things are massive.  From a distance they look in scale with the building,  but up close it's clear they could crush an elephant if they popped off the wall.  They're covered with classical ornament.  Fluted colonettes support an elaborate crown topped with shields, scrolls and tiny urns.  The finial is an eagle with spread wings (although from an angle it looks like a parrot).  Inside the shields you can see an intertwined JB for Jewelers' Building.

The lanterns almost look like scaled-up pieces of jewelry, which would be appropriate.  But they also resonate with the four domed pavilions and the dome on the main tower (see below).  Their scale works, but mainly because they've been elevated above the first floor where they can read as sculptural rather than functional. 

I'll be taking a look at a few other buildings with lighting standards in and around the Loop over the next several weeks.

North Elevation of 35 E. Wacker, 1925
Original can be found at the Chicago History Museum




 



33 N. LaSalle- Grille Detail

Elevator surround detail at 33 N. LaSalle

When I first started to work downtown I was fascinated with the decorative metal elements found on so many of the buildings.  I did a series of close-up images of some of these, without much concern about the surrounding context or the decorative influences at work.  The drawings were 1" x 1".  I think I was more interested in testing my crosshatching ability more than anything else. 

But recently I've started to rediscover these grilles, screens, and elevator doors. And I find that I'm interested in going a bit more in depth, particularly in regard to the skyscrapers of the 1920s.  And where better to start than my own office building?  Well, I guess it's not really mine...

I had to get special permission from the building management to take some reference photographs of these air return grilles in the lobby.  I think taking photos is harmless, but apparently I don't think like a terrorist.

Air return grille

Anyway, this is one and a half modules of the pattern used for the air return.  It's amazing how a few simple elements can give the impression of remarkable complexity.  The best of this ornament creates a tension between the use of geometric and naturalistic themes.

Unlike many earlier eclectic-style buildings, these are unashamed of their height and seem to acknowledge that their design lends itself to mass production.  This can been seen in everything from the decorative spandrels, thin limestone veneer, and machine-fabricated interiors.  At the same time their decorative elements benefited from the work of artists and sculptors who adapted their work to accomodate mass reproduction.

These buildings may seem quaint now, but they represent the apex of technology and economy for their day.   Their stepped back form and height aren't the result of a whim.  They incorporate what can be built (permitted by zoning and technology) and what should be built (profitable with a minimum of risk).  While the major tenant usually had rights to the name of the building, no one organization could fill every floor.  The developers had to provide adaptable office space for a range of users.

Most of these offices have been cut up, and the natural light  has been drastically reduced by new mechanicals and drop ceilings.  But they still retain enormous functionality.  And in my opinion, quite a bit of charm.  Many have been given new life through careful restorations, often utilizing tax credits through government programs.  In Chicago LaSalle Street has the best colletion of these buildings, including the Field Building, the Chicago Board of Trade, and One North LaSalle.

 Interestingly, the same floral elements used to create the air grilles were modified to become light fixtures throughout the lobby.  It's a good way to retain some continuity in a space which has been greatly altered since its time as the Foreman Bank Building.  And looking at the old photos displayed in the lobby, I really miss the grand staircase that once led up to the banking floor.

That said, I'm not positive that the brass air return grilles (and light fixtures as well) are original to the building.  The more I compare these with the elevator ornament the more it seems like the work of a careful modern designer.  But even if they're not original, I enjoy how they key into the general decorative vocabulary of the building.