Formative History of Architecture Essay

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Lecture 21 - Chicago the Innovative City
In the nineteenth century Chicago, commercial development, the availability of land and the number of population forces the land growth to grow upwards. Taller building is in favour and seen as appropriate to the context. This goes hand in hand with the innovations that surrounds the city. Another important event that plays a part in the drive of Chicago as the city of innovation is the Great Fire of Chicago which drives the invention of fireproofing techniques in building. At the same time, the flowering of architectural discourse is happening greatly: books, newspaper, etc. There is this wrestle between INNOVATION vs. STYLE. - Important people + thing in the 19th century innovative Chicago scene: William le Baron Jenney Daniel Burnham & John Wellborn Root Dankmar Adler & Louis Sullivan Henry Hobson Richardson World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893 - Technical innovations that led to taller building: 1. Fireproofing techniques Iron covered with concrete, cement, plaster Using terracota, timber 2. The invention of the elevator 3. The refinement of a skeleton framing system in iron

William Jenny, skeleton frame structure under construction

-The Curtain Wall System e.g. Home Insurance Building, William le Baron Jenney, 1883-84 It is the placing of iron plaster on te inside face of a masonry pier to support the timber floor girder -> release masonry piers from carrying load, allow them to reduce in section -> maximise size of window to allow more daylight Frame carries floor load + external wall masonry. - Fair Store Building, 1892 -> has a ‘light well’ -> has 28 levels, which is more than twice the height of any buildings in Chicago - These buildings: -Examples of a functional expression -Truth to structure -Minimising ornamentation on the outer skin - Chicago School
William le Baron Fair Store bldg, 1892
William le Baron Jenny, Home Insurance bldg, 1883-84 William le Baron Jenny , Home Insurance Building, 1883-84

- 19th century desire to find a new style

Henry Hobson Richardson
Attended Ecole des Beaux-Arts Got introduced to the Romanesque style which then inspired him into creating his own distinct style known as Richardsonian Romanesque.

HH Richardson, Brattle Square Church, Boston, 1870-72

- Richardsonian Romanesque -> Flat rounded arches -> Rusticated stone -> Eclectic, stylistic references to French Romanesque -> Arcading -> Positioning of tower - Palazzo e.g. Marshall Field Store, 1885-1887

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HH Richardson, Brattle Square Church, Boston, 1870-72

HH Richardson, Thomas Crane Memorial Library, Quincy USA, 1882 thomascranelibrary.org/images/richardsonbldg.gif

-> Rustication -> Tripartite division of building, resembling: 1. cornice/frieze 2. column Have: 3. elaborated base -> Glessner House -> Round low arch Horizontal banding Romanesque - deep heavy stone wall in this case functional as well -> fortress’ safe and securing the building from thieving thieves.

HH Richardson, Marshall Field Store , Chicago, 1885-1887

Daniel Burnham & John Wellborn Root
- Monadnock Block, Chicago, 1891 16 storey Still using mass construction system, not yet skeletal.

Burnham & Root, Monadnock Block, Chicago, 1891

- Reliance, 1894 Lighter, true skeleton and frame system. - Burnham & Root Flatiron Building, 1902 Small New York skyscraper

Daniel Burnham
Burnham & Root, Reliance, Chicago, 1894

Deals with larger scale town planning development. Haussmann - Paris city planning as inspiration Creating ‘ceremony’ in a commercial city Cutting of radial boulevard Long vistas - Columbian Great Exposition 1893 -> style influence American architecture of conservative, academic classicism style. - Chicago Loop - mimicks the way animals and stocks were transported

Daniel Burnham, Flatiron Building, New York, 1902

Sophia Hayden
Conservative, academic classicism
Daniel Burnham, Plan for Chicago, 1909

Louis Sullivan
More innovative, e.g.