Promontory Apartments

Last updated
Promontory Apartments
Promontory Apartments (7375074472).jpg
Promontory Apartments in 2008. The Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments is the red tower to the right.
Chicago locator map.png
Red pog.svg
Location5530–5532 South Shore Dr., Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°47′39″N87°34′51″W / 41.79417°N 87.58083°W / 41.79417; -87.58083
Arealess than one acre
Built1949 (1949)
Built byPeter Hamlin Construction Company
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Pace Associates
Architectural style International Style
NRHP reference No. 96001281 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 21, 1996

The Promontory Apartments is a 22-story skyscraper in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was the first skyscraper Mies designed and was the first of his buildings to feature concepts such as an exposed skeleton. The cooperative building overlooking Burnham Park has 122 units.

Contents

History

Seeking an architect

In 1946, real estate developer Herbert Greenwald decided to build a new cooperative housing high-rise in Hyde Park, Chicago, Illinois. Although the area had several tall apartment buildings, this would be the first such building since the Great Depression. Greenwald discussed options with his neighbor, Charles B. Genther, an architect with Pace Associates. [2] Greenwald sought the notoriety that a big-name architect would bring to the project. He first contacted Frank Lloyd Wright, who offered to design the building for an advance payment of $50,000. Greenwald did not have enough money on hand to pay the architect, so he looked for other options. He contacted Le Corbusier, but the architect replied with a message stating that he would not design buildings in the United States. [2] Eero Saarinen also rejected the commission. [3] Finally, he offered the project to Walter Gropius in Boston, who rejected the commission as it was too far away from his main offices. Gropius suggested that Greenwald instead turn to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who had offices in Chicago. [2]

Genther had previously studied under Mies at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He suggested that Mies become involved with the design of the project. Mies was one of the most prominent architects of the time, but had never designed a high-rise structure. [4] The project was named the "Promontory Apartments" because the proposed site overlooked Promontory Point in Burnham Park. [2]

Design

Plans for an exposed steel skeleton were rejected for the Promontory Apartments, but later became part of Mies' 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments. 860-880 Lake Shore Drive.jpg
Plans for an exposed steel skeleton were rejected for the Promontory Apartments, but later became part of Mies' 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments.

After a general floor plan had been suggested, Mies developed a design of the building. He suggested a steel curtain wall that would be encased in brick on two sides. On the other two sides, east and west, he recommended floor-to-ceiling windows between I-beam mullions running the height of the building. Greenwald rejected this design, although he would later approve a similar design for his 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments. Mies also submitted a second design with an exposed concrete structure on all sides. This design would have low brick spandrel walls and full-width windows on two sides. Greenwald approved this second design. [4]

Greenwald struggled to convince banks to lend him money for the project. Greenwald and Mies' concept to develop an apartment scheme with so much glass proved controversial. Finally, in Spring 1947, Greenwald was able to secure a mortgage with the Trust Company of Chicago. The Peter Hamlin Construction Company was selected as the general contractor and construction began that Fall. The project began to attract interest when a model of the final version and a drawing of the steel-and-glass version were put on display for a Mies showcase at the Museum of Modern Art. By the time the building was completed in 1949, all of the apartment units were sold. [4]

The Promontory Apartments were the first Mies building to have an exposed skeleton structure, an architectural theme that would dominate the latter portion of his career. Mies first proposed an external skeleton for an office building in 1923, but abandoned the concept until the late 1930s. His Mechanical Engineering Research building on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus featured an exposed concrete frame, but it was infilled with brick spandrel walls and windows and was not constructed in accordance with Mies' design. However, the building design is clearly a precursor to the Promontory Apartments. [4]

The Promontory Apartments were an important point in Mies' career. The building was well received in the United States and abroad and further cemented his reputation as a leading architect. The building's success would inspire Greenwald to commission Mies to design more than ten additional apartment projects. Mies was also encouraged by the reception and abandoned the classic elements such as the traditional floor plan for more experimental steel-and-glass design. The building and its display at the Museum of Modern Art encouraged Phyllis and Samuel Bronfman to commission Mies to design the Seagram Building in New York City. [4]

In the mid-1960s, the Promontory Apartments Trust contacted Mies about alterations to the ground floor as well as through-wall air conditioners for the spandrel walls. Mies offered his input on these changes, which were put into place c. 1965–66. [4] On November 21, 1996, the building was recognized by the National Park Service with a listing on the National Register of Historic Places. [1]

Architecture

The Promontory Apartments are adjacent to the 1927 Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments, also listed on the National Register. The building is designed as a Double T with the horizontal cross-bars joined; the stems of the T's form wings to the rear. Each T is its own building with separate addresses, elevators, and stairways. This tripartite design would feature prominently in future Mies designs. Starting with the third story, each floor of each T has three apartments which share a small elevator lobby in the center. The first floor has a common lobby and two apartments at a mezzanine level; thus, there are 122 units. The building has a basement with maintenance facilities, storage, laundry, and mechanical equipment rooms. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bauhaus</span> German art school and art movement

The Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known as the Bauhaus, was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts. The school became famous for its approach to design, which attempted to unify individual artistic vision with the principles of mass production and emphasis on function. Along with the doctrine of functionalism, the Bauhaus initiated the conceptual understanding of architecture and design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig Mies van der Rohe</span> German-American architect (1886–1969)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German-American architect, academic, and interior designer. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Gropius</span> German-American architect (1883–1969)

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modernist architecture. He was a founder of Bauhaus in Weimar (1919). Gropius was also a leading architect of the International Style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illinois Institute of Technology</span> Private university in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), commonly referred to as Illinois Tech, is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has programs in architecture, business, communications, design, engineering, industrial technology, information technology, law, psychology, and science. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The university's faculty and alumni include 3 Nobel Prize laureates, 2 Fulbright Scholarship recipients, and 1 recipient of the National Medal of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern architecture</span> Architectural movement and style

Modern architecture was an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the second half of the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architecture was based upon new and innovative technologies of construction ; the principle functionalism ; an embrace of minimalism; and a rejection of ornament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farnsworth House</span> Historic house in Illinois, United States

The Edith Farnsworth House, formerly the Farnsworth House, is a historical house designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945 and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural setting in Plano, Illinois, about 60 miles (96 km) southwest of Chicago's downtown. The steel and glass house was commissioned by Edith Farnsworth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Point Tower</span> Residential skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois

Lake Point Tower is a residential skyscraper located on a promontory of the Lake Michigan waterfront in Chicago, just north of the Chicago River at 505 North Lake Shore Drive. Completed in 1968, it is in the Streeterville neighborhood on the Near North Side. Located adjacent to Navy Pier, the building is the only skyscraper in the city east of Lake Shore Drive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments</span> United States historic place

860–880 Lake Shore Drive is a twin pair of glass-and-steel apartment towers on N. Lake Shore Drive along Lake Michigan in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Construction began in 1949 and the project was completed in 1951. The towers were added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 28, 1980, and were designated as Chicago Landmarks on June 10, 1996. The 26-floor, 254-ft tall towers were designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and dubbed the "Glass House" apartments. Construction was by the Chicago real estate developer Herbert Greenwald, and the Sumner S. Sollitt Company. The design principles were copied extensively and are now considered characteristic of the modern International Style as well as essential for the development of modern high-tech architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. R. Crown Hall</span> United States historic place

S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-American Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lafayette Park, Detroit</span> Neighborhood of Detroit in Wayne County, Michigan, United States

Lafayette Park is a neighborhood located east of Downtown Detroit. It contains a residential area of some 4,900 people and covers 0.07 sq mi.

Alfred Caldwell was an American architect best known for his landscape architecture in and around Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments</span> United States historic place

The Flamingo-on-the-Lake Apartments, also known as the Flamingo Apartment Hotel, is a building designed by architect William C. Reichert and located at 5500-5520 S. Shore Drive along Lake Michigan in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The 16-story apartment building was built with 144 apartments and 16 hotel rooms in 1927; it also featured an outdoor pool and bathhouse. It was designed in the Classical Revival style; its exterior is red brick with terra cotta ornamentation and a dentillated cornice. It and the adjacent building, The Promontory Apartments, a co-op building designed by Mies van der Rohe, are the furthest east buildings in Hyde Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse</span> Courthouse in Chicago

The Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, commonly referred to as the Dirksen Federal Building, is a skyscraper in the Chicago Loop at 219 South Dearborn Street. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1964. The building is 384 feet (117 m) tall with 30 floors; it was named for U.S. Congressman Everett Dirksen. The building houses the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the United States Bankruptcy Court, the United States Marshal for the Northern District of Illinois, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and local offices for various court-related federal agencies, such as the Federal Public Defender, United States Probation Service, United States Trustee, and National Labor Relations Board. It is one of three buildings making up the modernist Chicago Federal Center complex designed by van der Rohe, along with Federal Plaza, the U.S. Post Office and the Kluczynski Federal Building. Separate from the Federal Plaza, but opposite the Kluczynski Building across Jackson Boulevard, is the Metcalfe Federal Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James L. Nagle</span> American architect (1937–2021)

James Lee Nagle was an American architect practicing in Chicago. He was noted for being part of the Chicago Seven that supported a diversity in architectural styles beyond internationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Building at 320 West Oakdale Avenue</span> United States historic place

The building at 320 West Oakdale is a 21-story International Style skyscraper designed by Milton M. Schwartz in Chicago, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavilion and Colonnade Apartments</span> Buildings in Newark, New Jersey, U.S.

The Pavilion and Colonnade Apartments are three highrise apartment buildings in Newark, New Jersey. The Pavilion Apartments are located at 108-136 Martin Luther King Junior Blvd. and the Colonnade Apartments at 25-51 Clifton Avenue in the overlapping neighborhoods known as Seventh Avenue and Lower Broadway.

Herbert Greenwald was a Chicago real estate developer who utilized Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as the design architect for several landmark modern residential buildings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Narragansett (Chicago)</span> United States historic place

The Narragansett is a historic apartment building at 1640 E. 50th Street in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The building was built in 1928 at the peak of apartment construction in Chicago, as apartments had grown in popularity throughout the early 20th century. It was one of several apartments built in the Chicago Beach Development, a lakefront property that was developed into a fashionable neighborhood known as Indian Village. Architects Leichenko and Esser designed the Art Deco building. The 22-story building features brick piers spanning its entire height, terra cotta spandrels dividing each floor, and decorative limestone on the first three floors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">900-910 North Lake Shore</span> Skyscraper in Chicago, IL

900 910 North Lake Shore are a pair of glass and steel buildings, perpendicular to one another, designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago. Completed in 1956, they marked the refinement of Mies' highrise building design concept. The buildings are built to a Modernist International style that was considered to be a departure from the dominant aesthetic at the time they were built, and even criticized as too minimal. The "glass houses" are more often appreciated for the views they offer of Lake Michigan and downtown Chicago. The buildings were referred to as “giant mirrors for lake beauty”.

The 227 East Walton Place Apartment Building is a historic apartment building located in the Near North Side community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Swenson, Alfred. "Promontory Apartments: An Architectural History". The Promontory Apartments. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved November 4, 2013.
  3. Waldheim, Charles; Rüedi, Katerina, eds. (2005). Chicago Architecture: Histories, Revisions, Alternatives. Chicago Architecture and Urbanism. University of Chicago Press. p. 85. ISBN   978-0226870380.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Amarose, Anthony P. (June 10, 1996), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Promontory Apartments (PDF), National Park Service, archived from the original (PDF) on November 4, 2013, retrieved November 4, 2013

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Promontory Apartments at Wikimedia Commons