McCormick Place is a large
convention centerA convention center, in American English, is an exhibition hall, or conference center, that is designed to hold a convention. In British English very large venues suitable for major trade shows are known as exhibition centres while the term "convention centre" is sometimes used for intermediate...
made up of four interconnected buildings sited on and near the shore of
Lake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The second largest of the Great Lakes by volume The third largest of the Great Lakes by surface area , it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin,...
, about 4 km south of downtown
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
, USA. McCormick Place hosts numerous trade shows, including the
Chicago Auto ShowThe Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Placeconvention complex. At , with over 1,000 vehicles on display, it is the largest auto show in North America and the third largest in the world .The event, first produced in 1901, has been staged more times than any other...
, held every February.
As early as 1927,
Robert R. McCormickRobert Rutherford McCormick was a Chicago newspaper baron and owner of the Chicago Tribune. A leading isolationist, opponent of United States entry into World War II and of the increase in Federal power brought about by the New Deal, he continued to champion a traditionalist course long after his...
and the newspaper he controlled, the
Chicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company...
, championed a purpose-built lakeside
convention centerA convention center, in American English, is an exhibition hall, or conference center, that is designed to hold a convention. In British English very large venues suitable for major trade shows are known as exhibition centres while the term "convention centre" is sometimes used for intermediate...
for Chicago. In 1958, ground was broken for a $35 million facility that opened in November 1960, and was named after McCormick, who had died in 1955.
McCormick Place is a large
convention centerA convention center, in American English, is an exhibition hall, or conference center, that is designed to hold a convention. In British English very large venues suitable for major trade shows are known as exhibition centres while the term "convention centre" is sometimes used for intermediate...
made up of four interconnected buildings sited on and near the shore of
Lake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, and the only one located entirely within the United States. The second largest of the Great Lakes by volume The third largest of the Great Lakes by surface area , it is bounded, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin,...
, about 4 km south of downtown
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
,
IllinoisIllinois , the 21st state admitted to the United States of America, is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern state and the fifth most populous state in the nation...
, USA. McCormick Place hosts numerous trade shows, including the
Chicago Auto ShowThe Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Placeconvention complex. At , with over 1,000 vehicles on display, it is the largest auto show in North America and the third largest in the world .The event, first produced in 1901, has been staged more times than any other...
, held every February.
History
As early as 1927,
Robert R. McCormickRobert Rutherford McCormick was a Chicago newspaper baron and owner of the Chicago Tribune. A leading isolationist, opponent of United States entry into World War II and of the increase in Federal power brought about by the New Deal, he continued to champion a traditionalist course long after his...
and the newspaper he controlled, the
Chicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company...
, championed a purpose-built lakeside
convention centerA convention center, in American English, is an exhibition hall, or conference center, that is designed to hold a convention. In British English very large venues suitable for major trade shows are known as exhibition centres while the term "convention centre" is sometimes used for intermediate...
for Chicago. In 1958, ground was broken for a $35 million facility that opened in November 1960, and was named after McCormick, who had died in 1955. The lead architect was Alfred Shaw, one of the architects of the
Merchandise MartWhen opened in 1930, the Merchandise Mart or the Mart, located in Chicago, Illinois, was the largest building in the world with of floor space. Previously owned by the Marshall Field family, the Mart centralized Chicago's wholesale goods business by consolidating vendors and trade under a single...
. This building included the
Arie Crown TheaterThe Arie Crown Theater was named after Lithuanian immigrant Arie Crown who was the father of Henry Crown the american industrialist and philanthropist. The theater is situated on Lake Shore Drive Chicago. It opened in 1960 with seating for 5000 people, one of the largest seating capacities in...
, designed by Edward Durrell Stone. It seated nearly 5,000 people and was the second largest theater (by
seating capacitySeating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, either in terms of the physical space available, or in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that...
) in Chicago.
The 1960 exposition hall was destroyed in a spectacular 1967 fire, despite being thought fireproof by virtue of its steel and concrete construction. At the time of the fire, the building contained highly flammable exhibits, several hydrants were shut off, and the sprinklers proved inadequate. Thus the fire spread quickly and destructively, taking the life of a security guard. A subsequent investigation found major flaws in the design and construction of the building, and led to a much better understanding of how modern steel and concrete structures can be vulnerable to fire.
Although many wanted to rebuild the hall on a different site, Chicago mayor
Richard J. DaleyRichard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
elected to rebuild on the foundations of the burned building. The new design of dark steel and glass, by Gene Summers of C. F. Murphy and Associates (and formerly of Mies van der Rohe's office) contrasted markedly with the white look of the structure that had burned down. On January 3, 1971, the replacement building, later called the East Building and now called the Lakeside Center, opened with a 300,000 ft² (28,000 m²) main exhibition hall. The Arie Crown Theatre sustained only minor damage in the 1967 fire, and so was incorporated into the interior of the new building. The theatre, with the largest seating capacity of any active theatre in Chicago (the
Uptown TheatreThe Uptown Theatre, also known as the Balaban and Katz Uptown Theatre, is a massive, ornate movie palace in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois...
having more seating, but currently closed), underwent major modifications in 1997 which improved its acoustics.
Additions
The North Building, located across
Lake Shore DriveLake Shore Drive is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue , Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S...
and completed in 1986, is connected to the East Building by an enclosed pedestrian bridge. In contrast to the dark, flat profile of the East Building, the North Building is white (as the original building was), with twelve concrete pylons on the roof which support the roof using 72 cables. The
HVACHVAC is an acronym that stands for the closely related functions of "Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning"-the technology of indoor environmental comfort...
system for the building is incorporated into the pylons, which give the building the appearance of a rigged sailing ship.
The South Building, dedicated in 1997 and designed by tvsdesign, contains more than one million square feet (93,000 m²) of exhibition space. It more than doubled the space in the complex and made McCormick Place the largest convention center in the nation, surpassing the Javits Center in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
.
On August 2, 2007, McCormick Place officials opened yet another addition to the complex, the West Building, also designed by tvsdesign and costing $882 million and completed 8 months ahead of schedule. The publicly-financed West Building contains of exhibit space, bringing McCormick Place's total existing exhibition space to . The West Building also has of meeting space, including 61 meeting rooms, as well as a
ballroomA ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...
, the size of a
footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
field and one of the largest ballrooms in the world.
Archival materials are held by the
Ryerson & Burnham LibrariesThe Ryerson & Burnham Libraries are the art and architecture research collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The libraries cover all periods with extensive holdings in the areas of 18th, 19th and 20th century architecture and 19th century painting, prints, drawings, and decorative arts...
at the
Art Institute of ChicagoThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, The Art Institute of Chicago. Providing degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels, SAIC...
. The McCormick Place on the Lake 1971 Collection includes photographs, drawings and project files documenting its construction.
Commuter station
McCormick PlaceThe McCormick Place Station is a commuter rail station in Chicago underneath McCormick Place, Chicago's main convention center, that serves the Metra Electric Line north to the Millennium Station and south to University Park, Blue Island, and South Chicago; and the South Shore Line to Gary and...
is the name of a station on the
Metra Electric LineThe Metra Electric Line is an electrified commuter rail line owned and operated by Metra, connecting Millennium Station in downtown Chicago, with its southern suburbs...
, and is located in the basement of McCormick Place.
External links