Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934

265 Pages·2013·192.348 MB·English

by  Thomas Leslie

Chicago Skyscrapers
1871–1934
Thomas Leslie
Chicago Skyscrapers
1871–1934

Chicago Skyscrapers
1871–1934
Thomas Leslie
University of Illinois Press
Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield
Frontispiece: Panorama of the Loop from
the roof of the Insurance Exchange, ca. 1913.
(120 Photographic Views of Chicago,
Rand McNally, 1915)
© 2013 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
C 5 4 3 2 1
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leslie, Thomas, 1967–
Chicago skyscrapers, 1871–1934 / Thomas Leslie.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-252-03754-2 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-252-09479-8 (e-book)
1. Skyscrapers—Illinois—Chicago—History.
2. Chicago (Ill.)—Buildings, structures, etc.
I. Title.
NA6232.L47 2013
720’.4830977311—dc22 2012040478
To my parents, who first showed me Chicago.

The laws of nature are exact, and the laws of nature have a good deal to say about what Chicago shall be.
—Chicago Daily Tribune, July 7, 1889
[T]he architect is not only an artist, but also an engineer, a man of science and a man of affairs. In these latter
capacities, the architect of to-day has at his command instrumentalities and opportunities unknown to his
predecessor. . . . [T]he architect is of the world as well as in it.
—Dankmar Adler, 1896

Contents
xi Preface
xxiii Acknowledgments
1 Chapter 1. October 1871
15 Chapter 2. “Built Mostly of Itself”: Chicago and Clay, 1874–1891
35 Chapter 3. Iron and Light: The “Great Architectural Problem”
and the Skeleton Frame, 1879–1892
61 Chapter 4. Steel and Wind: The Braced Frame, 1890–1897
78 Chapter 5. Glass and Light: “Veneers” and Curtain Walls, 1889–1904
100 Chapter 6. Steel, Clay, and Glass: The Expressed Frame, 1897–1910
125 Chapter 7. Steel, Light, and Style: The Concealed Frame, 1905–1918
144 Chapter 8. Power and Height: The Electric Skyscraper, 1920–1934
173 Chapter 9. Chicago, 1934
185 Appendix
193 Notes
209 Bibliography
221 Index