Architecture: A Very Short Introduction

_{20. Chicago Tribune Tower, Chicago, Illinois (1923–5); architects: John Mead Howells (1868–1959) and Raymond Hood (1881–1934). In 1922 the proprietor of the Chicago Tribune organized an international competition to find a design that would make the finest office building in the world for his newspaper’s headquarters. It attracted entries from prominent architects around the world, and there was a touring exhibition of the entries, so the winning design, by Raymond Hood, was immediately well known and influential. It was on a prominent site in Chicago, a city that is built on absolutely flat ground, which makes almost every site seem rather neutral. The tower is on the city’s main street, Michigan Avenue, close to the Chicago River, the city’s only natural feature, with a plaza between the building and the river. The design put everything into the idea of making the building tower, and made use of Gothic ornamentation, in order to make the whole building look as if it is soaring up to the complex arrangement of masonry that makes the distinctive crown — modelled on the 13th-century Butter Tower at Rouen Cathedral, but very much larger than the original. The building’s steel frame made it possible, but it is nowhere visible, because it is covered in limestone. It is therefore a technically advanced building that was stylistically conservative. Looking to historic buildings to give an idea of soaring verticality took Howells and Hood clearly enough to the Gothic cathedrals, where this had been an aim. A less inspired sort of Gothic had also been the style adopted by Cass Gilbert for the Woolworth Building in New York, which was the tallest building in the world at the time of the competition. Howells and Hood had first met while studying at the highly traditional École des Beaux Arts in Paris, and Howells set up practice in New York, establishing a reputation such that he was one of the ten American architects invited to enter the competition. He enlisted Hood’s help, and Hood is generally remembered as the building’s designer. He was certainly the more flamboyant character, and at the time of the competition was living deeply in debt. When the firm won the competition, Hood’s wife Elsie borrowed the cheque, hired a taxi, and took it round New York to show to the various creditors.}

Towards a new architecture