chicago under construction: historic images documenting the rise of the city's skyline

i've assembled several images accompanied with brief captions of seldom seen photographic images of a multitude of chicago buildings captured while under various phases of construction. the majority of the historic images revolve around structures built in and around downtown during the late 19th and early 20th century.

the collection of images offers tremendous insight into the materials and methods used to build these structures, including many of chicago's early skyscrapers. when time permits, i will rearrange the images in a more chronological order with more descriptive captions highlighting various facets of the visual information contained within each image. 

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom, the bldg. 51 archive, ryerson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago and john vinci collection.

images (still digitizing the entire set) selected from an old binder containing a complete set of sequential photographs taken during the demolition of chicago's 1886 city hall and county building (designed in 1882 by architect james egan).

the images detailing demolition work and caisson excavation (w.j. newman was the wrecker and excavator) are especially interesting. signs were posted onsite to promote the sale of materials (e.g., stone, ironwork, wood, etc.).

the third image shows tongue and groove wood slats and metal hoops used to brace the shafts of hand dug caissons.

undated albumen print of adler & sullivan's auditorium building (completed in 1889) under construction. likely photographed by j.w. taylor.

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

seldom seen photograph documenting foundation excavation work for cook county hospital's power plant (completed in 1917). note newman's bucyrus steam shovel in the foreground and horses and cart to the left.
newman did a great deal of excavation and demolition work in chicago during the late 19th century. for example, there are several images of newman demolishing james egan's 1886 city hall building to make way for for holbarid and roche's 1911 neoclassical replacement.
i hope to share those images down the road, since they offer a great of insight into demolition methods used to taken down a building in a densely populated urban environment.

image courtesy of burnham and ryerson, art institute of chicago.

i spent last evening editing another batch of cook county hospital construction photos taken between 1912-1913. i haven't pinpointed the terra cotta fabricator, although i suspect midland or maybe advance (the latter was just in its infancy - looking to break into the market) executed the terra cotta.
in addition, i finally discovered why this set of construction photos landed in the schmidt, garden, and martin archives, which at first glance perplexed me. i knew they were one of the top firms when it came to hospital design, but the facade's ornament is not there cup of tea - way too classical. turns out, they were the supervising architects for the hospital's architect, paul gerhardt, who know doubt designed the facade.
as for the images, i was delighted to see a tradesmen setting one of the angelic female terra cotta heads. the second image captures several ironworkers and a row of derricks erecting the building's "steel cage," with steel beams supplied by the american bridge company.
next, i need to find images showing the building's foundation, which consists of concrete piers resting on clay around 50 feet below street level.
images courtesy of ryerson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago.

while working at the ryerson and burnham archives the other day, i stumbled across several folders containing silver gelatin prints documenting the construction of cook county hospital from beginning to end.
after carefully studying the images - looking closely at the methods and materials used to construct the hospital building, i'm truly amazed at how quickly the building was erected, given its size and the amount of ornament used to dress the facade.

the photographic prints were made by the chicago architectural photo company, beginning in nov 1912 and ending in dec 1913. images are courtesy of the ryerson and burnham library, art institute of chicago.

note: although i scanned the entire series, i'm only posting a small selection that highlight progress made from beginning to end.

under construction - d.h. burnham & company's 1906 addition to louis h. sullivan's schlesinger and mayer (later carson, pirie, scott and company) building (1899). note the steelworkers with pneumatic rivet guns and company's hand-painted sign along brick wall.

original silver gelatin print of d.h. burnham & company's 1906 addition to louis h. sullivan's schlesinger and mayer building (1899) taken during the early phase of construction, with erection of riveted-joint steel columns surrounded by gin poles, cables and scattered materials found below grade.
the backdrop of building facades located across the street provide context and scale of the construction site.

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

photographic print of people's gas building under construction taken on march 10th, 1910. the beaux-arts style 21-story building was completed in 1911 by d.h. burnham & company.
the exterior is comprised of granite (from sidewalk above third story) with the remainder the facade containing terra cotta finished to look like granite. the massive ionic order columns are 4 feet in diameter, 30 feet in height, and weigh 25 tons each. the granite was quarried from rockport, mass.

courtesy of ryerson and burnham archive, at institute of chicago.

original albumen prints of the 1893 chicago world's fair manufactures & liberal arts building (designed by east coast architect george b. post) under construction. much has written about the fair and its buildings, so no need to go into detail.
the manufactures building was the largest structure at the fair. the great steel arch trusses were one of the building's most notable features.
the image showing one of the arch truss footings in great detail is dated march 26, 1892. the photo showing man next to hinge joint dates to april 10, 1892.

courtesy of the bldg. 51 archive.

seldom seen image of schmidt, garden, and martin's dwight brothers paper company building (1911) under construction. the 10-story concrete structure was built by the leonard construction company.
the dwight building was later converted (only the facade remains) into student housing for columbia college.
the hugh garden-designed exterior terra cotta lion heads - with a distinctive black speckled glaze - are similar in design and finish to the heads he used on the chapin and gore building (1904) and michael reese hospital (1907).

images courtesy of ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago and bldg. 51 archive.

photographic image of a deeply informative oversized construction sign board likely located on or around the perimeter of the building site. the signboard includes project name, architect, brief description, owners and list of primary subcontractors.
can you imagine if images of detailed signboards existed for other 19th and early 20th century chicago buildings?
the building project is identified as "white hall court," but i believe the the 17-story apartment building (1928) was later renamed canterbury court, located at 1220 north state parkway.

courtesy of ryerson and burnham and archive, art institute of chicago.

1905-06 addition (under construction) to marquette building (1895). the extant building and addition were designed by the architectural firm of holabird and roche. george a. fuller company was the builder. the 8 x 10 image was likely taken by chicago architectural photographing company.

rarely seen albumen print of adler and sullivan's partially completed auditorium building taken during the 1888 national republican convention where benjamin harrison was nominated as presidential candidate. harrison returned on december 9th, 1889 for the building dedication ceremony.
unidentified photographer, but could be james w. taylor since he documented the building in various stages of construction.

courtesy of ryerson and burnham archive, art institute of chicago.

recently acquired original 8 x 10 james w. taylor or ralph cleveland albumen photographic print of state street looking north of madison in 1891.
this is the first image i've seen showing burnham root's 21-story masonic temple (completed, 1892) under construction with exposed steel framing for its pitched rooftop gables.
i've included a taylor albumen showing the temple nearing completion in 1892 (note the building materials scattered along the sidewalks and streets and scaffolding erected under the building's massive granite entrance arch feet wide that opened into the great rotunda).
the last image was taken in 1939, when the building was destroyed. judging from what's left of john wellborn root's ornamental staircase (note the brown brothers company glass vault lights in the risers) and supporting columns from the sky-lit central court, the ornamental iron - executed by winslow brothers - was no doubt smashed, torched, and tossed into scrap heaps.

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

when richard nickel meticulously documented the construction of mccormick place in the summer of 1969, he only printed a limited number of large photographs that would i periodically see in various collections and exhibits.
when i ran across one this past week, i decided to dig a little deeper into his archive, where i found several long-forgotten contact sheets filled with riveting images chronicling early stages of construction.
as i carefully studied and digitized the images, i grew increasingly interested in the building, its structural components (e.g., cross-shaped columns used to support the space frame) and how they were pieced together.
now i'm utterly obsessed with this building and the technology used to build it, reading anything and everything, with no end in sight.
mccormick was designed by gene summers of c.f. murphy & associates. completed in 1970.

images courtesy of ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago.

image of louis sullivan's gage building (1899) photographed during its construction in the 1890s.
the ornamental ironwork surrounding the entrance was largely in place with the exception of protruding glass-enclosed entrance and lunette, gage brothers name plaques, and ornamented spandrels - located between plate glass windows and sidewalk.
with installation of the cream-colored terra cotta on the lower floors completed, tradesmen are seen placing plate glass windows and luxfer prism transom panels into the steel window frames.
a few years later in 1902, the facade was pushed upward with the addition of four stories. the original terra cotta, including the cartouches, was carefully removed and reinstalled.

northwestern terra cotta executed the terra cotta and winslow brothers fabricated the building's exterior ironwork. the prismatic glass was made by or for the luxfer prism company of chicago, ills.

construction image courtesy of ryerson and burnham archive, institute of chicago. all other images and objects courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

1954-56 photograph of mies van der rohe's crown hall under construction (completed in 1956). unidentified photographer.

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive.

richard nickel print of first national bank of chicago under construction. perkins & will, c.f. murphy associates. completed in 1969.

courtesy of john vinci collection.

richard nickel images of first national bank of chicago under construction. perkins & will, c.f. murphy associates. completed in 1969.

courtesy of the richard nickel archive, ryerson and burnham archives, art institute of chicago.

james w. taylor albumen of walker warehouse taken shortly before the building was completed in 1889. note the stonemasons carving the bedford limestone impost blocks onsite.
adler and sullivan's walker warehouse was a speculative project for martin ryerson. his death in 1887 stalled the project and/or construction, but moved forward by ryerson's son. shortly after completion in 1889, it was leased to james h. walker, a wholesaler.

courtesy of ryerson and burnham, art institute of chicago.

photo of 1905-06 addition (under construction) to marquette building (1895). the extant building and addition were designed by the architectural firm of holabird and roche. george a. fuller company was the builder. the black and white 8 x 10 image was likely taken by james taylor or ralph cleveland. 

courtesy of bldg. 51 archive. 

early image of the pontiac building - completed in 1891 - under construction. likely photographed by j.w. taylor. holabird & roche, architects.
the pontiac is the oldest of the firm's downtown skyscrapers that remains standing. the 14-story building features some dazzling terra cotta, monogrammed hardware, and ornamental iron elevator cages (repurposed). northwestern executed the terra cotta and elevator ornament was done by winslow brothers.
our city has lost so many of the firm's buildings, beginning with the tacoma in 1929. thankfully richard nickel made an extensive photographic record of other loop buildings (e.g., cable and republic buildings) befoire they were demolished.

images of bldg. 51 archives.