Reliance Building

Coordinates: 41°52′58″N 87°37′40″W / 41.88278°N 87.62778°W / 41.88278; -87.62778
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Reliance Building
Chicago Landmark
John Root, Charles B. Atwood[2]
Architectural styleChicago School
Part ofLoop Retail Historic District (ID98001351)
NRHP reference No.70000237[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1970[1]
Designated NHLJanuary 7, 1976[2]
Designated CLJuly 11, 1995

The Reliance Building is a

John Root of the Burnham and Root architectural firm in 1890, with the rest of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood in 1895. It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass
windows make up the majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a design feature that would become dominant in the 20th century.

The Reliance Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970; and on January 7, 1976, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.[2]

The Reliance Building is also part of the Loop Retail Historic District, a collection of over one hundred buildings that reflects the growth of State and Wabash Streets as the central retail district of Chicago. The building fell into disrepair starting in the 1940s, and was restored in the late 1990s. Since 1999, the building has housed the 122-room Staypineapple, An Iconic Hotel, The Loop (formerly the Hotel Burnham) and Atwood Cafe.

History

Upper facade

Commercial real estate in

Depression of 1873–79. In 1880, William Ellery Hale purchased a small lot in the Loop community area containing the four-story First National Bank Building, one of the few offices in downtown Chicago to partially survive the Great Fire.[3]
Hale was the founder of the Hale Elevator Company, an early producer of hydraulic elevators necessary in skyscraper design. Hale envisioned a new tower on the site, but first needed to raze the existing structure. However, its tenants did not want to terminate their leases.

Instead, Hale lifted the second, third, and fourth floors on

Burnham & Root
firm, were constructed in 1890.

Hale had become acquainted with Burnham & Root through his other real estate projects, such as the

Carson Pirie Scott & Co. was the first tenant of the Reliance Building, opening a dry goods store on the first floor once it was completed.[7]

Daniel Burnham recruited Boston architect Charles B. Atwood to complete the building with E. C. Shankland as lead engineer. After raising the original building's remaining three floors Atwood used white glazed architectural terra-cotta cladding, a feature that would later become strongly associated with him following his works for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. At the time, it was believed that the recently developed enameled terra-cotta would never need to be cleaned because its smooth surface would allow any dirt to wash away in the rain.[8] The steel framing on the top ten floors was completed over fifteen days, from July 16 to August 1, 1895. The Reliance Building, so named for its functionality, opened in March 1895. It was one of the first skyscrapers to offer electricity and phone service in all of its offices. In its first few decades, it provided office space for merchants and health professionals, including Al Capone's dentist.[9]

The building struggled during the Great Depression, and slowly declined. In October 1948, Karoll's Men's Shop opened a store on the lower two floors,[10] with a modern façade that obliterated the original storefront. However, the upper floors remained hard to fill.[9] On October 15, 1970, the Reliance Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. On January 7, 1976, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark.[2] The building continued to fall into disrepair, as the small size of its retail spaces were not appealing to business interests in the late 20th century. The city of Chicago made a commitment to revitalize the structure, but City Hall could not agree on a plan. The debate became particularly polarized after the 1989 demolition of the nearby McCarthy Building, which angered preservationists but satisfied business interests by providing space for a modern office building.[11] Finally, in 1994, the McClier corporation collaborated with the Baldwin Development Company to restore the Reliance Building; these two groups had recently worked together to rehabilitate the Rookery Building. The City of Chicago purchased the property at this time for $1.3 million (equivalent to $2.67 million in 2023).[12] The Reliance Building's rehabilitation was completed in 1999 at a cost of $27.5 million (equivalent to $50.3 million in 2023).[12] as the former retail space was converted into a luxury hotel. Canal Street Partners, LLC bought the revitalized space and created the Hotel Burnham.[13] The preservation of this building was championed by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.[14] Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was presented with a National Trust for Historic Preservation Honor Award in 2001 for the role of the city in preserving the structure.[9] In December 2016, Pineapple Hospitality purchased the building and renamed the hotel as first The Alise Chicago,[15] then later Staypineapple, An Iconic Hotel, The Loop.[16]

Architecture

A hallway of the Reliance Building following the 1999 restoration

The addition of the remaining floors in 1894–1895 completed the building and marked the "first comprehensive achievement"[17] of the Chicago construction method. The building's plate-glass windows are set within the terra-cotta-tiled facade. Its steel-frame superstructure is built atop concrete caissons sunk as much as 125 feet beneath the footing.

The Reliance Building has been called "proto-

Marshall Field Warehouse, built only eight years earlier, seems in comparison to be heavy, ponderous, and of another era.[20]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d "Reliance Building". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  3. ^ Pitts, Carolina (October 15, 1970), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Reliance Building, retrieved August 9, 2011
  4. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 21.
  5. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 28.
  6. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 30.
  7. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 34.
  8. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 38.
  9. ^ a b c "Kimpton's Burnham Hotel Chicago: Historic Timeline" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 6, 2011. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
  10. ProQuest 177522535
    .
  11. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 45.
  12. ^ a b 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  13. ^ Pridmore 2003, p. 54.
  14. ^ Granacki, Victoria (2000). "About Us: Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois". Landmarks Illinois. Retrieved May 4, 2007.
  15. ^ "Chicago's Hotel Burnham sold, renamed | Hotel Management". December 21, 2016.
  16. ^ Gallun, Alby (December 21, 2016). "Hotel Burnham has a new owner and a new name". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  17. ISBN 9780847805068
    .
  18. ISBN 0-19-284226-9
    .
  19. ISBN 1-56898-254-2
    .
  20. ISBN 0-07-141524-6
    .

References

External links

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