Burnham and Company, the Fisher Building survives today as the oldest building in Chicago that is more than 18 stories high (it has 20 floors). Pioneers Fisher BuildingĬompleted in 1896 by D.H. We’ve divided our list of famous Chicago skyscrapers into three groups -Pioneers, Record Breakers and Icons. We’ve put together a list of our favorite famous Chicago skyscrapers: Since then, the city has become world-renowned for its architectural achievements and, of course, its vast array of famous Chicago skyscrapers. This innovation, experts acclaimed, made the Home Insurance Building the world’s first modern skyscraper and Chicago home to the world’s first skyscraper. Because the frame dispersed the weight of the building, it was much lighter than its load-bearing cousins and, thus, was able to be built taller. Stepping out of the load-bearing wall architectural box, Jenney supported the building with a fireproof steel frame that resembled a skeleton around the entire construction. In 1884, at the height of this building boom, architect and engineer William LeBaron Jenney was commissioned by the Home Insurance Company of New York to design its regional headquarters in Chicago at the corner of Adams and LaSalle Streets. Because brick or stone can only support so much weight, buildings built with load-bearing walls often topped out at around 10-12 stories. These multi-story buildings featured massively thick load-bearing walls, walls that supported the weight of the entire building above it.
These fireproof materials lead to a boom in new construction projects, especially high-density buildings in the Loop that housed a variety of tenants. This preventative measure paved the way for heat resistant materials such as brick, limestone, marble, and Terracotta tile, all of which found new popularity among local architects and building designers. Shortly after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the City of Chicago passed new laws that outlawed the use of wood in new building construction. To learn the history of famous Chicago skyscrapers, you need to go back more than 100 years.
0 kommentar(er)
