running into myself

*The Rookery Building, Chicago, 1888; Daniel H. Burnham and John Wellborn Root; Frank Lloyd Wright*

I’d been inside the Rookery Building many times before, to marvel at its two-story skylighted atrium, but then I found out that the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust offered an in-depth visit to the building that included the 11th-floor Burnham Library, a part of the architectural offices of Burnham and Root of Chicago.

I eagerly reserved my $11 ticket online, and met a small tour group inside the building on a gorgeous August morning. The oldest-remaining tall office building in Chicago, the Rookery has a multi-layered history, as well as a connection to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The tour included a rare opportunity to view the semi-circular iron stairway winding to the top of the building, as well as the Burnham Library, restored to its original appearance.

*The lower part of the iron stairway curves outward from the second story of the Rookery’s atrium.*

The building has connections not only with its principal designers, Daniel H. Burnham and John Wellborn Root, one of Chicago’s major architectural firms, but with Frank Lloyd Wright, who was commissioned to update the light court in 1905.

*The amazing (and dizzying) iron staircase linking all the upper floors of the Rookery*

On the 11th floor, reached via the freight elevator, we viewed the Burnham Library, the setting for an iconic photo of Burnham and Root (see below). It was also in this library that many of the plans were carried out for the World’s Columbian Exposition, under the leadership of Burnham following Root’s early death at age 41 in 1891. The sense of history in the room was overwhelming; I felt that I’d been transported to another time and place.

*The 11th-floor Burnham Library, all that remains of the offices of Burnham and Root in the Rookery*

*Daniel H. Burnham and John Wellborn Root seated in front of the fireplace in the library*

Prairie Avenue on Chicago’s near south side still retains a few of the elegant late-19th-century mansions for which it was once famous.

My Wednesday bike ride took me in search of more work by architect Bertrand Goldberg, featured in my previous post. As I headed south on the lake front bike path toward downtown, the brilliant sunlight reflected off the lake as the few weekday bike riders zipped past me in their hurry to get…somewhere.

My ultimate goal was the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and its Mies van der Rohe buildings. Along the way, I would stop at Prairie Avenue, and then another Bertrand Goldberg-designed housing complex. After six miles, I’d reached the Prairie Avenue Historic District, and stopped for a much-needed rest at The Spoke and Bird. Over iced coffee and a scone, I enjoyed the calm atmosphere of the coffee house, as I gazed out the window at a group of faux-19th-century apartment blocks with their not-too-authentic details, seeking to blend in with the neighborhood’s history.

I’ll write a future post on the Prairie Avenue district, whose star is the H.H. Richardson-design Glessner House, but I wanted to continue south on my bike.

Raymond Hilliard Homes, round residential tower

Bertrand Goldberg’s Raymond Hilliard Homes, adjacent to Chicago’s Chinatown, were constructed 1963-1966. With two 16-story round towers for elderly housing, and two 18-story curved towers for low-income family housing, the complex contained 756 dwelling units. With rounded bays and windows similar to Goldberg’s River City (see previous post), the buildings cover a large complex that, unfortunately, is accessible only to residents. My photos had to be taken from outside thee perimeter fences. The buildings were certainly different from the many other public housing and mixed-use projects on the south side.

Raymond Hilliard Homes, one of the pair of curved residential towers

My final stop on my short journey to the near south side was the IIT campus, which I’d never visited. One of the largest collections of Mies van der Rohe-designed buildings in the world, IIT’s most famous building is Crown Hall (1956), which I stopped to admire and photograph.

Mies’ plan for the IIT campus was one of the largest projects he ever conceived and he developed it for twenty years. Today the campus contains 20 of his works, including the famous Crown Hall, which add up to be “the greatest concentration of Mies-designed buildings in the world.” – https://www.archdaily.com/59816/ad-classics-iit-master-plan-and-buildings-mies-van-der-rohe

That was my photographic outing, spanning about 100 years of architecture in Chicago. I returned home on the elevated train with my bike, squeezed among Chicago Cubs fans on their way to Wrigley Field for a ball game.

Monthly Archives: August 2019

Burnham’s library

a few more buildings