The Birthplace Of The Skyscraper
Legend
| Green Line | Walking Route |
| Green Pin | Stopping Point |
| Red Pin | Building (Tap for information) |
WARNING: Do not click the “full screen” button on the upper right of the embed below. If you do, it opens in google maps, which does not support pin descriptions.
📱 Interactive Map. Tap pins to access information. Button in upper left allows layer toggling.
Literary Resources
The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered, Louis Sullivan
Mies Van Der Rohe on the Building Art, Fritz Neumeyer
Lectures on Architecture, Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
People
| Figure | Significance |
|---|---|
| Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc | Architect; author who influenced multiple generations of architects |
| William Le Baron Jenney | Engineer; Designed The Home Insurance Building, the first steel-frame skyscraper |
| Dankmar Adler | Engineer; Hired Sullivan |
| John Wellborn Root | Architect; Founded the Western Association of Architects with Burnham, Sullivan, and Adler |
| Daniel Burnham | Genius organizer of men; hated school |
| William Holabird | Architect; Splintered from Jenney’s firm to form Holabird and Roche |
| Louis Sullivan | Architect; Pioneer of the Chicago School; artistic visionary; inspiration for Henry Cameron; said ‘form ever follows function.’ |
| Frank Lloyd Wright | Architect; Protégé of Sullivan |
| Daniel Burnham Jr. | Continued his father’s legacy; hired Louis Skidmore |
| Ludwig Mies van der Rohe | Architect; Leader of Bauhaus school; champion of international style; said ‘Less is more.’ |
| John Merrill | Architect and Engineer; The ‘M’ in SOM |
| Louis Skidmore | Architect; The ‘S’ in SOM; hired Owings |
| Edward Durell Stone | Architect; Standard Oil Building (Aon Center). Considered a romantic for his ‘New Formalism’ |
| Nathaniel Owings | Architect; The ‘O’ in SOM; Skidmore’s brother in law |
| Bertrand Goldberg | Architect; Marina City |
| Kevin Roche | Architect; Leo Burnett Building; Initially studied under Mies, but quit to do more expressive buildings |
| Fazlur Khan | SOM Engineer; Sears Tower, Hancock Center |
| Sheldon Schlegman | Architect; Crain Communications Building |
| Adrian Smith | Architect; Trump Tower Chicago, Jeddah Tower, Burj Khalifa |
| Jeanne Gang | Architect; St. Regis, Aqua Tower, One Hundred Above The Park (St. Louis) |
Commercial Style Guide
- The Chicago School - A functional artistic style with broader windows, American ornament, and steel structure
- Beaux-Arts - A formist artistic style characterized by European classical revival. Sometimes incorporated industrial elements in grand ways
- Art Deco - A decorative artistic style that celebrated technology and archaeology by incorporating sleek lines as well as Egyptian and South American patterns
- Modernism - A catch-all descriptor for post-industrialization buildings that discarded tradition and embraced various definitions of what it meant for a building to function
- The International Style - A functional materialist (minimalist) style originating in the German Bauhaus School with flat roofs, no ornament, and floor-to-ceiling glass
- High Modernism - Essentially the same as the international style, but sometimes less rectilinear
- Brutalism - A formist materialist style (although it’s alleged to be functional) with lots of exposed concrete forms
- Mid-Century Modernism - International with warmer tones and more radical, angular shapes
- Late Modernism - A functional artistic style of expressive shapes. Includes some organic architecture
- Retro-Futurism - A functional artistic style with white or pastel finishes and massive, often curved forms
- New Formalism - A functional artistic style with structurally modern buildings made into bright symmetrical forms. Often considered “romantic”
- Structural Expressionism - A functional utilitarian style expressing structural components
- Post-Modernism - A catch-all descriptor for buildings that rebelled against the functionalism of the international style. Championed by Robert Venturi who said “Less is a bore.”
- Deconstructivism - A formist materialist style defined by chaotic shapes. Standard sources will tell you that deconstructivism is not post-modern because it doesn’t re-employ traditional elements, but I disagree. I think mish-mashes of classical elements and mish-mashes of modern elements are equally post-modern.
- Contemporary Architecture - A catch-all descriptor for buildings made in the last generation or so
- High-Tech - A functional utilitarian style expressing building systems
- Futurism - A functional artistic style with (typically) white finishes and extreme proportions
- Parametricism - A functional utilitarian style originating from the irregularly-shaped generations of parametric computer modeling software
Meta Terms (These are my own definitions)
- “Functional” - Taking its shape from the achievement of an active purpose rather than the achievement of a particular “form”. (According to the principle that form follows function.)
- “Formist” - Taking its shape from the achievement of a particular desired form rather than the achievement of an active purpose. (Irrespective of the principle that form follows function.)
- “Decorative” - Neutral as regards form.
- “Artistic” - Attending to a conceptual need for art or venustas.
- “Materialist” - Attending primarily to a material need for shelter, irrespective of alleged conceptual “needs”.
- “Utilitarian” - Expressing a physical component. Self-referential. Using utilitas as venustas.