Reliance Building
Encyclopedia
The Reliance Building is a skyscraper
located at 32 North State Street in the Loop
community area
of Chicago
, Illinois
. The first floor and basement were designed by John Root of the Burnham and Root
architectural firm in 1890, with the rest of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood
in 1895. It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a feature of skyscrapers that would become dominant in the 20th century. The Reliance Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1970; and on January 7, 1976, it was designated a National Historic Landmark
. The Reliance Building is also part of the Loop Retail Historic District
, a collection of over one hundred buildings that reflects the growth of State and Wabash Streets as the central retail district of Chicago. The building fell into disrepair starting in the 1940s, and was restored in the late 1990s. Since 1999, the building has housed the Hotel Burnham.
_-_chicago,_illinois.jpg)
Commercial real estate in Chicago
, Illinois
boomed in the late 1870s due to the recovery from the Great Chicago Fire
in 1871 and the Depression of 1873–79. In 1880, William Ellery Hale purchased a small lot in the Loop
community area, the central business district of the city. Hale was the founder of the Hale Elevator Company, one of the early producers of hydraulic elevators, a necessity in skyscraper design. Hale envisioned a new tower on the site, but first needed to raze the existing four-story First National Bank Building. However, the tenants in the building did not want to terminate their leases. To solve this problem, Hale lifted the second, third, and fourth floors of the building on jackscrew
s and demolished the first floor. The First National Bank Building had been one of the few buildings in downtown Chicago to partially survive the Great Fire.
A new basement and ground floor, designed by John Wellborn Root
of the Burnham & Root firm, were constructed in 1890, with the other floors still on jackscrews. Hale became acquainted with Burnham & Root from his other real estate projects, such as the Rookery Building
. Burnham & Root were renowned in Chicago by this point, having already designed twenty other buildings in the Loop. Root developed the floating raft system
, which enabled designers to build large, steel-frame buildings on a reinforced concrete foundation, a necessity in Chicago's moist soil. Root and Hale agreed that the new building needed to have large glass windows on the first floor with large, open spaces. On the upper floors, Hale intended to have several stories dedicated to smaller tenants, with offices for doctors and other professionals on the top floors. He also specifically emphasized the need for natural lighting on all floors. The plan for the Reliance Building was consistent with the growing concept of the Chicago school
of architecture, which emphasized the importance of designing to address the function
of a building. Root died of pneumonia
on January 15, 1891, before the completion of his portion of the Reliance Building; his intended design for the rest of the building has never been found. Carson Pirie Scott & Co. was the first tenant of the Reliance Building, opening a dry goods store on the first floor once it was completed.
Daniel Burnham
recruited Boston
architect Charles B. Atwood
to complete the building with E. C. Shankland as lead engineer. After the remains of the original building were finally demolished, Atwood was able to implement his own design for the rest of the structure. He used white glazed architectural terra-cotta
cladding
, a feature that would later become strongly associated with him following his works for the World's Columbian Exposition
in 1893. At the time, it was believed that the recently-developed enameled terra-cotta would never need to be cleaned because its smooth surface would allow any dirt to wash away in the rain. The steel framing on the top ten floors was completed over fifteen days in 1894. The Reliance Building, so named for its functionality, opened in March 1895. It was one of the first skyscrapers to offer electricity and phone service in all of its offices. In its first few decades, it provided office space for merchants and health professionals, including Al Capone
's dentist.
The building struggled during the Great Depression
, and slowly became dilapidated. After Caron Pirie Scott & Co. left the building for the Merchandise Mart
, the first floor hosted Karroll's, a menswear store. However, the building struggled to maintain tenants on the upper floors. On October 15, 1970, the Reliance Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
by the National Park Service
. On January 7, 1976, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark
. The building continued to fall into disrepair as the small size of its retail spaces were not appealing to business interests in the late 20th century. The city of Chicago made a commitment to revitalize the structure, but City Hall could not agree on a plan. The debate became particularly polarized after the 1989 demolition of the nearby McCarthy Building, which angered preservationists but satisfied business interests by providing space for a modern office building. Finally, in 1994, the McClier corporation collaborated with the Baldwin Development Company to restore the Reliance Building; these two groups had recently worked together to rehabilitate the Rookery Building. The City of Chicago purchased the property at this time for $1.3 million ($2 million in 2011 dollars). The Reliance Building's rehabilitation was completed in 1999 at a cost of $27.5 million ($36.7 million in 2011 dollars) as the former retail space was converted into a luxury hotel. Canal Street Partners, LLC bought the revitalized space and created the Hotel Burnham. The preservation of this building was championed by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
was presented with a National Trust for Historic Preservation
Honor Award in 2001 for the role of the city in preserving the structure.
sunk as much as 125 feet beneath the footing.
The Reliance Building has been called "proto-Modernist
" in its lack of the hierarchy found in Classical
facades. Its stacks of projecting bay window
s and terra-cotta cladding create an effect of extraordinary lightness. It was a direct precursor of the all-glass Friedrichstrasse skyscraper proposed by Mies van der Rohe in 1921. Richardson
's Marshall Field Warehouse, built only eight years earlier, seems in comparison to be heavy, ponderous, and of another era.
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
located at 32 North State Street in the Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
community area
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. The first floor and basement were designed by John Root of the Burnham and Root
Burnham and Root
Burnham and Root was the name of the company that John Wellborn Root and Daniel Hudson Burnham established as one of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century....
architectural firm in 1890, with the rest of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood
Charles B. Atwood
Charles B. Atwood was an architect who designed several buildings and a large number of secondary structures for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He also designed a number of notable buildings in the city of Chicago....
in 1895. It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a feature of skyscrapers that would become dominant in the 20th century. The Reliance Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1970; and on January 7, 1976, it was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. The Reliance Building is also part of the Loop Retail Historic District
Loop Retail Historic District
Loop Retail Historic District is a shopping district within the Chicago Loop community area in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is bounded by Lake Street to the north, Congress Parkway to the south, State Street to the west and Wabash Avenue to the east...
, a collection of over one hundred buildings that reflects the growth of State and Wabash Streets as the central retail district of Chicago. The building fell into disrepair starting in the 1940s, and was restored in the late 1990s. Since 1999, the building has housed the Hotel Burnham.
History
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
boomed in the late 1870s due to the recovery from the Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...
in 1871 and the Depression of 1873–79. In 1880, William Ellery Hale purchased a small lot in the Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
community area, the central business district of the city. Hale was the founder of the Hale Elevator Company, one of the early producers of hydraulic elevators, a necessity in skyscraper design. Hale envisioned a new tower on the site, but first needed to raze the existing four-story First National Bank Building. However, the tenants in the building did not want to terminate their leases. To solve this problem, Hale lifted the second, third, and fourth floors of the building on jackscrew
Jackscrew
A jackscrew is a type of jack which is operated by turning a leadscrew. In the form of a screw jack it is commonly used to lift heavy weights such as the foundations of houses, or large vehicles.-Advantages:...
s and demolished the first floor. The First National Bank Building had been one of the few buildings in downtown Chicago to partially survive the Great Fire.
A new basement and ground floor, designed by John Wellborn Root
John Wellborn Root
John Wellborn Root was an American architect who worked out of Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style...
of the Burnham & Root firm, were constructed in 1890, with the other floors still on jackscrews. Hale became acquainted with Burnham & Root from his other real estate projects, such as the Rookery Building
Rookery Building
The Rookery Building is a historic landmark located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Completed by John Wellborn Root and Daniel Burnham of Burnham and Root in 1888, it is considered one of their masterpiece buildings. It once housed the office of the...
. Burnham & Root were renowned in Chicago by this point, having already designed twenty other buildings in the Loop. Root developed the floating raft system
Floating raft system
Floating raft is type of land-based foundation that protects against settlement and the liquefaction of soft soil due to seismic activity. It was a necessary innovation in the development of tall buildings in the wet soil of Chicago in the 19th century, where it was developed by John Wellborn Root...
, which enabled designers to build large, steel-frame buildings on a reinforced concrete foundation, a necessity in Chicago's moist soil. Root and Hale agreed that the new building needed to have large glass windows on the first floor with large, open spaces. On the upper floors, Hale intended to have several stories dedicated to smaller tenants, with offices for doctors and other professionals on the top floors. He also specifically emphasized the need for natural lighting on all floors. The plan for the Reliance Building was consistent with the growing concept of the Chicago school
Chicago school (architecture)
Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...
of architecture, which emphasized the importance of designing to address the function
Form follows function
Form follows function is a principle associated with modern architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose....
of a building. Root died of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
on January 15, 1891, before the completion of his portion of the Reliance Building; his intended design for the rest of the building has never been found. Carson Pirie Scott & Co. was the first tenant of the Reliance Building, opening a dry goods store on the first floor once it was completed.
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA was an American architect and urban planner. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington DC...
recruited Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
architect Charles B. Atwood
Charles B. Atwood
Charles B. Atwood was an architect who designed several buildings and a large number of secondary structures for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He also designed a number of notable buildings in the city of Chicago....
to complete the building with E. C. Shankland as lead engineer. After the remains of the original building were finally demolished, Atwood was able to implement his own design for the rest of the structure. He used white glazed architectural terra-cotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta
Glazed architectural terra-cotta is a ceramic masonry building material popular in the United States from the late 19th century until the 1930s, and still one of the most common building materials found in U.S. urban environments...
cladding
Cladding (construction)
Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....
, a feature that would later become strongly associated with him following his works for the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
in 1893. At the time, it was believed that the recently-developed enameled terra-cotta would never need to be cleaned because its smooth surface would allow any dirt to wash away in the rain. The steel framing on the top ten floors was completed over fifteen days in 1894. The Reliance Building, so named for its functionality, opened in March 1895. It was one of the first skyscrapers to offer electricity and phone service in all of its offices. In its first few decades, it provided office space for merchants and health professionals, including Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
's dentist.
The building struggled during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and slowly became dilapidated. After Caron Pirie Scott & Co. left the building for the Merchandise Mart
Merchandise Mart
When opened in 1930, the Merchandise Mart or the Merch Mart, located in the Near North Side, 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...
, the first floor hosted Karroll's, a menswear store. However, the building struggled to maintain tenants on the upper floors. On October 15, 1970, the Reliance Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
by the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
. On January 7, 1976, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
. The building continued to fall into disrepair as the small size of its retail spaces were not appealing to business interests in the late 20th century. The city of Chicago made a commitment to revitalize the structure, but City Hall could not agree on a plan. The debate became particularly polarized after the 1989 demolition of the nearby McCarthy Building, which angered preservationists but satisfied business interests by providing space for a modern office building. Finally, in 1994, the McClier corporation collaborated with the Baldwin Development Company to restore the Reliance Building; these two groups had recently worked together to rehabilitate the Rookery Building. The City of Chicago purchased the property at this time for $1.3 million ($2 million in 2011 dollars). The Reliance Building's rehabilitation was completed in 1999 at a cost of $27.5 million ($36.7 million in 2011 dollars) as the former retail space was converted into a luxury hotel. Canal Street Partners, LLC bought the revitalized space and created the Hotel Burnham. The preservation of this building was championed by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois
The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois -- also known as Landmarks Illinois -- is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1971 to prevent the demolition of the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan designed Chicago Stock Exchange Building...
. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
was presented with a National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an American member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities, including the publication of Preservation...
Honor Award in 2001 for the role of the city in preserving the structure.
Architecture
The addition of the remaining floors in 1894–1895 completed the building and marked the "first comprehensive achievement" of the Chicago construction method. The building's plate-glass windows are set within the terra-cotta-tiled facade. Its steel-frame superstructure is built atop concrete caissonsDeep foundation
A deep foundation is a type of foundation distinguished from shallow foundations by the depth they are embedded into the ground. There are many reasons a geotechnical engineer would recommend a deep foundation over a shallow foundation, but some of the common reasons are very large design loads, a...
sunk as much as 125 feet beneath the footing.
The Reliance Building has been called "proto-Modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
" in its lack of the hierarchy found in Classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
facades. Its stacks of projecting bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s and terra-cotta cladding create an effect of extraordinary lightness. It was a direct precursor of the all-glass Friedrichstrasse skyscraper proposed by Mies van der Rohe in 1921. Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson was a prominent American architect who designed buildings in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and other cities. The style he popularized is named for him: Richardsonian Romanesque...
's Marshall Field Warehouse, built only eight years earlier, seems in comparison to be heavy, ponderous, and of another era.
See also
- Chicago architectureChicago architectureThe architecture of Chicago has influenced and reflected the history of American architecture. The city of Chicago, Illinois features prominent buildings in a variety of styles by many important architects...
- 16 Cook Street, Liverpool, UK16 Cook Street16 Cook Street, Liverpool was built in 1866 and, together with Oriel Chambers on the city's Water Street, forms the complete work of Peter Ellis. It is a Grade II* Listed Building....
- Oriel Chambers, Liverpool, UKOriel ChambersOriel Chambers is the world's first metal framed glass curtain walled building. Designed by architect Peter Ellis and built in 1864, it comprises set over five floors...