Auditorium Building | |
 Building's exterior in 2012 | |
    | |
| Location | 430 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°52′34″N87°37′31″W / 41.87611°N 87.62528°W /41.87611; -87.62528 |
| Area | 67,699.5 square feet (6,289.49 m2) |
| Built | 1889 |
| Architect | Louis Sullivan Dankmar Adler |
| Architectural style | Late-19th- and early-20th-century American movements |
| Part of | Historic Michigan Boulevard District |
| NRHP reference No. | 70000230[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 17, 1970[2] |
| Designated NHL | May 15, 1975[3] |
| Designated CL | September 15, 1976 |
TheAuditorium Building is a structure at the northwest corner of SouthMichigan Avenue andIda B. Wells Drive in theLoop community area ofChicago, Illinois, United States. Completed in 1889, it is one of the best-known designs ofLouis Sullivan andDankmar Adler. The building was designed as a multi-use complex, including offices, a theater, and a hotel. As a young apprentice,Frank Lloyd Wright worked on some of the interior design.
TheAuditorium Theatre is part of the Auditorium Building and is located at 50 EastIda B. Wells Drive. The theater was the first home of theChicago Civic Opera and theChicago Symphony Orchestra.
The building was added to theNational Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970.[2] It was declared aNational Historic Landmark in 1975,[3] and was designated aChicago Landmark on September 15, 1976.[4] In addition, it is a historic district contributing property for the Chicago LandmarkHistoric Michigan Boulevard District. Since 1947, the Auditorium Building has been part ofRoosevelt University.
Ferdinand Peck, a Chicago businessman, incorporated the Chicago Auditorium Association in December 1886 to develop what he wanted to be the world's largest, grandest, most expensivetheater that would rival such institutions as theMetropolitan Opera House in New York City. He was said to have wanted to make high culture accessible to the working classes of Chicago.
The building was to include an office block and a first class hotel. Peck persuaded many Chicago business tycoons to go on board with him, includingMarshall Field, Edson Keith,Martin A. Ryerson,Charles L. Hutchinson andGeorge Pullman. The association hired therenowned architectural firm ofDankmar Adler andLouis Sullivan to design the building. At the time, a youngFrank Lloyd Wright was employed at the firm as draftsman, and he may have contributed to the design.[5]
The Auditorium was built for asyndicate of businessmen to house a large civic opera house; to provide an economic base it was decided to wrap the auditorium with a hotel and office block. Hence Adler & Sullivan had to plan a complex multiple-use building. Fronting onMichigan Avenue, overlooking the lake, was the hotel (now Roosevelt University) while the offices were placed to the west on Wabash Avenue. The entrance to the auditorium is on the south side beneath the tall blocky eighteen-story tower. The rest of the building is a uniform ten stories, organized in the same way as Richardson'sMarshall Field Wholesale Store. The interior embellishment, however, is wholly Sullivan's, and some of the details, because of their continuouscurvilinear foliatemotifs, are among the nearest equivalents to EuropeanArt Nouveau architecture.[6]
Sullivan and Adler designed a tall structure with load-bearing outer walls, and based the exterior appearance partly on the design ofH.H. Richardson'sMarshall Field Warehouse, another Chicago landmark.[7] The Auditorium is a heavy, impressive structure externally, and was more striking in its day when buildings of its scale were less common. When completed, it was the tallest building in the city and largest building in the United States.[8]
One of the most innovative features of the building was its massive raftfoundation, designed by Adler in conjunction with engineer Paul Mueller. The soil beneath the Auditorium consists of soft blueclay to a depth of over 100 feet, which made conventional foundations impossible. Adler and Mueller designed a floating mat of crisscrossedrailroad ties, topped with a double layer of steel rails embedded in concrete, the whole assemblage coated withpitch.
The resulting raft distributed the weight of the massive outer walls over a large area. However, the weight of the masonry outer walls in relation to the relatively lightweight interior deformed the raft during the course of a century, and today portions of the building have settled as much as 29 inches. This deflection is clearly visible in the theater lobby, where themosaic floor takes on a distinct slope as it nears the outer walls. This settlement is not because of poor engineering but the fact the design was changed during construction. The original plan had the exterior covered in lightweight terra-cotta, but this was changed to stone after the foundations were under construction. Most of the settlement occurred within a decade after construction, and at one time a plan existed to shorten the interior supports to level the floors but this was never carried out.
In the center of the building was a 4,300 seatauditorium, originally intended primarily for production ofGrand Opera. In keeping with Peck's democratic ideals, the auditorium was designed so that all seats would have good views and acoustics. The original plans had nobox seats and when these were added to the plans they did not receive prime locations.
The theater has 3,901 seats as of 2017.[9]
Housed in the building around the central space were an 1890 addition of 136 offices and a 400-room hotel,[8][10] whose purpose was to generate much of the revenue to support the opera. While the Auditorium Building was not intended as a commercial building, Peck wanted it to be self-sufficient. Revenue from the offices and hotel was meant to allow ticket prices to remain reasonable. In reality, both the hotel and office block became unprofitable within a few years of the building's opening.
_HABS.jpg)
_HABS.jpg)
_HABS.jpg)
On October 5, 1887, PresidentGrover Cleveland laid thecornerstone for the Auditorium Building. The1888 Republican National Convention was held in a partially finished building whereBenjamin Harrison was nominated as a presidential candidate. On December 9, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison dedicated the building and opera starAdelina Patti sang "Home Sweet Home".[11][12] Adler & Sullivan had also opened their offices on the 16th and 17th floors of the Auditorium tower.
TheChicago Symphony Orchestra debuted on October 16, 1891, and made its home in the Auditorium Theatre until moving toOrchestra Hall in 1904.[8] Opera singers at the theater includedEnrico Caruso,Amelita Galli-Curci,Mary Garden,John McCormack,Nellie Melba, andEllen Terry.[13]
The opera company renting the accommodation moved to theCivic Opera House in 1929, and the Auditorium Theatre closed during theGreat Depression.[13] In 1941, it was taken over by the city of Chicago to be used as aWorld War II servicemen's center.[11][8] By 1946,Roosevelt University moved into the Auditorium Building,[8] but the theater was not restored to its former splendor. Instead, the theater stood vacant for another two decades.[11] In 1952, Congress Parkway was widened, bringing the curb to the southern edge of the building. To make room for a sidewalk, some ground-floor rooms and part of the theater lobby were removed and a sidewalk arcade created.[14]
Roosevelt University trustees voted in 1958 to restore the Auditorium Theater.[15] In the early 1960s,[a] Beatrice T. Spachner, a Roosevelt University trustee, became the leader of the Auditorium Theater Council, which had been formed to oversee the Auditorium Theatre's restoration.[13][11] She ultimately raised $2.25 million[15][16] or $3 million for the purpose.[11]Harry Weese was hired to restore the theater, having claimed to be able to refurbish it for a much lower price than local competitorSkidmore, Owings, & Merrill could.[12] On October 31, 1967, the Auditorium Theatre reopened with abenefit concert where theNew York City Ballet performedA Midsummer Night's Dream.[11][16] The Auditorium served as arock venue through 1975; among other notable acts, theGrateful Dead played there ten times from 1971 through 1977.
On August 10, 1968,Jimi Hendrix performed two shows with his bandThe Jimi Hendrix Experience.[17] The Doors also played their first concert at the Auditorium Building after their arrest of singerJim Morrison on June 14, 1969.
It was declared aNational Historic Landmark by theUnited States Department of the Interior in 1975.[18][19]
.jpg)
The building was equipped with the firstcentral air conditioning system and the theater was the first to be entirely lit byincandescentlight bulbs.[8] In 2001, a major restoration of the Auditorium Theatre was begun by Daniel P. Coffey and Associates in conjunction withEverGreene Architectural Arts to return the theater to its original colors and finishes.
On April 30, 2015, theNational Football League held its2015 NFL draft in the Auditorium Theatre.[11][20]
.png)
Notes
Citations
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Further reading
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
