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Curves in a City of Grids: How Calder’s Flamingo (1974) Transformed Chicago’s Federal Center.

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FEATURE Image: Alexander Calder’s Flamingo successfully transforms Chicago’s Federal Center Plaza by humanizing, energizing, and completing Mies van der Rohe’s austere modernist architectural ensemble through color, scale, movement, and sculptural form. Author’s photograph. June 2022. 7.73 mb

Alexander Calder’s Flamingo (1974) transformed Chicago’s Federal Center by introducing movement, whimsy, and human-scaled organic form into one of the city’s most rigorously ordered modernist spaces. Set amid Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s rectilinear architecture, Calder’s monumental red stabile demonstrates how public art can soften, animate, and humanize the urban environment without diminishing its architectural power. Alexander Calder’s Flamingo was unveiled on October 25, 1974, in a dedication ceremony with the artist. Alongside Picasso and Cloud Gate, it is one of Chicago’s iconic outdoor public artworks.

In downtown Chicago’s Federal Center Plaza on South Dearborn Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard is Alexander Calder’s 53-foot-tall painted steel plate “stabile object” entitled Flamingo. The Chicago Federal Center was completed in 1974 with Calder’s artwork. The design project began in 1958 and included three International-style government buildings by modernist architect Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) within a public plaza design that was completed in 1974. Flamingo, commissioned after Mies’ death for $250,000 by the Government Services Administration, was unveiled on October 25, 1974 with the 76-year-old Calder present for its dedication ceremonies and festivities. With the commission Calder understood the significant impact of his artwork for the Federal Center Plaza in Chicago.

Calder’s prolific and impressive art career started in the early 1920s. Fifty years later, Flamingo (a.k.a., “the Calder”) in Chicago’s historic Federal Center Plaza is a later work, whose maquette Calder made before it was intended for Chicago.

During his artistic career’s many decades and years, Calder never stopped developing in his art. The 1974 steel sculpture painted red-orange is four stories tall and makes a powerful impact on the streetscape where it is an integral part. Along with Chicago’s Picasso in 1967 and Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (“the Bean”) in 2004, Calder’s Flamingo in 1974 has taken its well-deserved place among Chicago’s most iconic outdoor public artworks.

From the inventor of the mobile, Calder turned later to the development of the stabile of which Flamingo is a masterwork. Starting in the mid1950s and into the 1970’s, Calder produced scores of stabiles in many shapes and sizes for display around the world.

“Most architects and city planners want to put my objects in front of trees or greenery. They make a huge error. My mobiles and stabiles ought to be placed in free spaces, like public squares, or in front of modern buildings, and that is true of all contemporary sculpture” – Alexander Calder. Quoted in Jed Perl, Calder: The Conquest of Space: The Later Years: 1940–1976 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2020).

June 2022. Author’s photograph. 7.24 mb

Above: On the west side of Clark Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard—visible directly behind Alexander Calder’s Flamingo sculpture—the prominent structures are from left to right: The Commercial Office Building located at 118 South Clark Street (directly tucked between the Bankers Building and Jackson Boulevard)—was completed in 1920 and designed by the prolific Chicago architectural firm Holabird & Roche, Willis Tower in the distance, The Bankers Building (105 West Adams Street, completed in 1927 by the Burnham Brothers, a 476-foot Art Deco masterpiece featuring characteristic deep light courts and upper-tier setbacks), and, on the other side of Adams Street, The Field Building at 140 S. Clark. Completed in 1934 by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, it stands as one of the finest premier masterpieces of Art Deco skyscraper design in the entire United States. A corner slice of the Edison Building is also pictured.

Titled Flamingo, the towering abstracted “Calder red” painted stabile object can evoke reactions to it that are unexpected. Calder’s stabile masterwork was unveiled in October 1974 which was the same year the Sears Tower (in the background) was completed, and which was at that time the world’s tallest building (today it is ranked no. 26). From Federal Center Plaza, Chicago’s 20th century architectural history is readily on display in its downtown buildings in a range of shapes, sizes, textures and design styles.

The work’s vivid red color and sweeping curves contrast with Mies van der Rohe’s black steel-and-glass buildings.

May 2014. Author’s photograph. 3.28 mb

Because of its monumental size, Flamingo can be intimidating. Actual flamingo shorebirds vary in size, but none are no more than 3 to 5 feet tall, and weigh about 5 to 7 pounds. At 53 feet tall, Calder’s immense stabile in Chicago is about the size of a giant sauropod dinosaur which would weigh around 60 tons.

“It’s really just for differentiation, but I love red so much that I almost want to paint everything red” – Alexander Calder. Katharine Kuh, The Artist’s Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists (New York: Harper & Row, 1962).

November 2015. Author’s photograph. 260kb 25%

Alexander Calder trained and worked as a mechanical engineer before he became an artist. The graceful design and construction of Flamingo is expressed by nearly one-inch-thick steel plates buttressed by ribs and gussets joined overhead by lofty arches and resting on three legs as if it is nearly weightless. Even his largest stabiles (of which Flamingo is one) are made so they can be easily unbolted and taken apart to be transported and assembled at the place of destination.

Calder’s Flamingo demonstrates how monumental public sculpture can become an active architectural partner, transforming a formal modernist plaza into a more dynamic, accessible, and memorable civic space.

May 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.82 mb

In Federal Center Plaza is a complex of three buildings of varying scales by Mies van der Rohe: the broad 30-floor Everett McKinley Dirksen Building at 219 S. Dearborn Street completed in 1964 (at right), the lean 45-floor John C. Kluczynski Building at 230 S. Dearborn Street completed in 1974 (not pictured), and the single-story U.S. Post Office building at 219 S. Clark Street (not pictured). Calder’s Flamingo sits on its three pillars like a lunar lander that reflects the arcaded bases of Mies van der Rohe’s buildings that surround it as well as provide a sweeping contrast of curves and bright stand-out color against the surrounding modernist buildings’ monochrome glass-and-steel grid appearance. Calder’s artwork achieved more than the sum of these parts – it transformed Mies’ overall somber architectural trio into a more dramatic and complex quartet that included Calder’s art. The 30-story Dirksen Building is across Dearborn Street.

Flamingo by Alexander Calder is a masterwork stabile in Chicago’s downtown. Its monumental scale remains approachable because pedestrians can walk around, beneath, and through it.

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Above: Calder’s Flamingo after dark with the one-story Post Office illumined within behind it (above). Alexander Calder deliberately placed the sculpture in an open urban setting where contemporary sculpture could interact with modern architecture.

June 2022. Author’s photograph. 6.87mb

Above: Calder’s stabile is one of the most monumental public art commissions in Chicago. Flamingo’s height and breadth (it fills a space of about 1440 square feet) achieves a largesse that does not forgo a human scale as it allows pedestrians to freely walk around, under and through it. The 45-story Kluczynski Building is at left.

November 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.77mb

Above: Flamingo lighted at night in late November where there is already a snow pile on the sidewalk in Chicago’s Federal Center Plaza presaging the Chicago winter. In summer months there is a regular farmer’s market on the Federal Center Plaza. It is also the location for a variety of political gatherings year-round. The Kluczynski Building is behind.

Rather than functioning as an isolated object, the sculpture changes how viewers experience the entire Federal Center complex.

October 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.90mb.

Above: Alexander Calder’s Flamingo (1974) sits in Federal Plaza designed by modernist architect Mies Van Der Rohe. Behind it is Mies’ 45-floor John C. Kluczynski Building at 230 S. Dearborn Street and on a sunny east side of South Dearborn his 30-story Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Moving south across Jackson Boulevard is the 5-story 33 West Jackson Boulevard building built in 1910 (with additions/remodels stretching through 1917). Next to it is The Standard Club at 321 South Dearborn Street built in 1926 and designed by Albert Kahn. The Fisher Building (1896) at 343 South Dearborn Street and its annex is next further south. Designed by D.H. Burnham & Company, it was completed in 1896. The Old Colony building on the other side of the L tracks was built between 1893 and 1894, When it officially topped out, the 17-story, 215-foot high-rise briefly held the title of the tallest building in Chicago. It was designed by the legendary architectural firm of Holabird & Roche. The framework was engineered by Corydon T. Purdy who designed it with a highly advanced, pioneering skeletal steel-frame structure that carries the entirety of the building’s massive weight allowing the exterior features absolutely no self-supporting walls.

In October 1974 Alexander Calder was in Chicago for a “Calder Festival” where two of his major works were being dedicated – Flamingo for Federal Center Plaza (depicted above with the Kluczynski Building) and Universe, a motorized mural for the Sears Tower. Reflecting the artist’s lifetime interest in circuses, Calder joined in the city’s circus-themed parade in his honor. In another major cultural event in Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art held a large retrospective exhibition of Calder’s art from October to December of 1974.

June 2022. Author’s photograph. 6.20mb

Above: Flamingo sits within a classic Chicago Loop streetscape looking south down South Dearborn Street, framing a beautiful juxtaposition of the city’s architectural evolution. On the left side of the street sits the massive, dark steel-and-glass the Kluczynski Federal Building designed by Mies van der Rohe. On the immediate right foreground is the ornate, reddish-brown stone facade of the Marquette Building (1895). Directly past it rises the colossal, dark brick wall of the Monadnock Building (1891), showcasing its iconic, smooth masonry curves and deep-set bay windows stretching a full block south toward Van Buren Street. In the distant vista is the historic red brick tower of the Old Dearborn Station clock tower (1885) stands out against the sky, acting as a visual anchor at the very end of the street corridor.

May 2024. Author’s photograph. 88% 7.78 mb

Above: This wide angle of federal Plaza frames several historic and modernist landmarks surrounding Alexander Calder’s Flamingo sculpture. These include a portion of John C. Kluczynski Federal Building, Loop Station Post Office, The Commonwealth Edison Building and The Marquette Building.

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Above: Looking east along West Quincy Street toward Federal Plaza, this view captures a striking convergence of Chicago’s historic and modernist architecture. Framing the corridor is, on the left, a slice of the Rookery Building, completed in 1888 by the firm Burnham & Root, and the Clark Adams Building originally known as the Bankers Building, completed by the Burnam Brothers in 1927. On the right is the Central Standard Building, originally the Continental Illinois National Bank Building, completed in 1924 by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. Anchoring the vista is the sweeping red curve of Alexander Calder’s Flamingo. Just in front of it stands the transparent glass entrance to the single-story United States Post Office (1973), an integral element of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s original Federal Plaza design. Rising behind the plaza and dominating the upper half of the scene is the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building, Mies’s landmark expression of modernist architecture, creating a dramatic contrast with the richly detailed Art Deco and classical forms that line Quincy Street.

By placing a monumental red sculpture of sweeping organic curves within Mies van der Rohe’s disciplined modernist complex, Alexander Calder transformed Chicago’s Federal Center into a dynamic conversation between art, architecture, and public space.

Sources:

Bach, Ira J., and Mary Lackritz Gray. A Guide to Chicago Public Sculpture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983.

Chicago Architecture Center. “Federal Center.” Buildings of Chicago. Accessed September 30, 2022. https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/buildings-of-chicago/building/federal-center/.

Lipman, Jean. Calder’s Universe. New York: The Viking Press and Whitney Museum of American Art, 1976.

Perl, Jed. Calder: The Conquest of Space: The Later Years: 1940–1976. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.

The Cultural Landscape Foundation. “Chicago Federal Center Plaza.” Designed Landscapes. Accessed September 30, 2022. https://www.tclf.org/landscapes/federal-plaza.

Byzantine Heritage in Modern Chicago: Yaroslaw Korsunsky’s Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church (1975).

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FEATURE image: Stained glass, paintings, banners, and chandelier blend together and provide a more complete picture of people and episodes of the faith. North wall and ceiling. Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 5.88 mb

Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church (1975) stands as a powerful expression of Ukrainian religious and cultural identity in Chicago, blending traditional Byzantine forms with modern architectural design. Architect Yaroslaw Korsunsky created a monumental house of worship whose soaring domes, geometric forms, and richly symbolic design connect an immigrant community to centuries of Eastern Christian tradition while asserting its presence within the modern American city.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. July 2015. Author’s photograph.

At 739 N. Oakley Boulevard Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church in Chicago displays with its gold domes. The tradition-minded parish, founded in early 1970s, serves a busy urban community.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 2.52 mb

The building’s design balances monumentality, symbolism, and modern construction techniques.

Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church, Chicago. The huge mosaic over the main entrance memorializes the conversion of the Ukrainians to Christianity in 988 by St. Volodymyr of Kyiv or Vladimir of Kiev (957-1015). The mosaic was executed by Hordynsky, Makarenko, and Baransky. The church is built in the modern Byzantine style. In addition to the colorful and bright mosaic, the upward angle and its perspective adds to the feeling of entering into a sacred space. Along with the archways and curve of the main golden dome, the eye focuses on the artwork’s bright figures. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 7.68 mb

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 5.42 mb

WHO IS ST. VOLODYMYR?

St. Volodymyr is the apostle to proto-Russian and Russian Christianity. He was the great prince of Ukraine in Kiev. It was ruled by the Varangians, a barbarous Viking  tribe from Scandinavia – and Volodymyr (or Vladimir) of Kiev was as barbarous as any of them.

In 988, when Volodymyr was about 31 years old, he was converted to Christianity. The missionaries came from the Byzantine world at Constantinople. The results were immediate: Ukraine was now in close contact with the Byzantine world to the south and its Christian church under the pope.

Volodymyr married the daughter of the Byzantine emperor, Basil II (957-1025). But it was Volodymyr’s personal embrace of the Christian faith that infused the Ukrainian people with their deep and abiding faith. Having received baptism, he set out to be a Christian and not corrupted by money and power that proved a serious temptation for many church and state leaders in the Dark Ages.

Volodymyr used his temporal powers to evangelize the people – his personal example his greatest asset to its success. Though he encouraged various activities and programs in the lives of the people – including the multi-faceted work of Greek missionaries – it was his sincere, transparent, and fundamental reform of his own life that by far had the greatest impact on the Ukrainian people. More than one thousand years after his rule, Volodymyr is still recalled as a generous, humble and devout soul.

As a Christian ruler Volodymyr had doubts about inflicting the death penalty. Though assured by his Byzantine church counselors that his Catholic faith allowed him to follow the law which allowed for it, Volodymyr corrected them and said that that sort of reasoning was not satisfactory to his faith.

Volodymyr, the great prince of Kiev, died a poor man – not only various from his origin but, again, that of many of the ecclesiastics now in the realm. Before his death, Volodymyr dispersed all his money and personal belongings to the poor and to his family and friends. St. Volodymyr’s feast day is July 15. He is patron of Ukrainian and Russian Catholics.

WHO IS ST. OLHA?

Saint Olha was the wife of the Kyivan Great Prince Igor. Igor signed a peace treaty with the Greeks in 944. The treaty of 944 was drawn up at Constantinople and allowed for Christianity in Ukraine. This toleration already indicates some sympathy for Christianity among the powerful in Kiev. Igor himself, however, in his official position did not embrace Christianity nor officially allow the presence of a structure of Church hierarchy. The treaty was drawn up  to quietly allow co-existence of Christians in a pagan Viking culture.

Yet when the Byzantine emissaries arrived in Kyiv, pagan opposition had emerged from the Varangians. The Christians were thrown into abeyance and Igor was murdered in 945. Into this volatile situation the burden of government fell upon Igor’s widow — the Kyiv Great-Princess Olha, and her three-year-old son Svyatoslav (945-972). Her first act was to avenge Igor’s murder.

Olha belonged to one of the obscure ancient-Rus’ princely dynasties, whose Slavic line had intermarried with assimilating Varangian newcomers. Olha’s Varangian names includes Helga and Olga.

Though still a pagan, Olha’s revenge on the Varangians on behalf of her late husband was a victory for the realm’s Christians. Further, having weakened the influence of petty local princes in Rus’, Olha centralized the whole of state rule. She became a great builder of the civil life and culture of Kyivan Rus. Her centralization became an important network of the ethnic and cultural unification of the nation which, when Olha became a Christian, aided in the building of a network of churches. Her essential activities proved key in developing what is the modern Ukrainian national identity. At the same time, important trade with Poles, Swedes, Germans, and so forth, led to significantly expanding foreign connections. One noteworthy development was that wooden buildings were replaced with stone edifices.

Rus’ had become a great power. Only two European realms could compare with it in the tenth century – the Byzantine empire in the east, and the kingdom of Saxony in the west. Both these empires were Christianized and pointed the way to future greatness for Rus’. In 954 Great-princess Olha sailed to Constantinople. Though a display of Rus’ military might on the Black Sea, it was a spiritual mission. Olha’s might and the Byzantines’ wealth and beauty were mutually impressive.

Constantinople was the city of the Mother of God as dedicated by Constantine the Great in 330. Olha made the decision to become a Christian. She was baptized by Patriarch Theophylactus (917-956) with her godfather being the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitos (905-959). She took the Christian name Helen for Constantine’s mother. Following  the rite, the Patriarch said: “Blessed are you among the women of Rus’, for you have forsaken the darkness and have loved the Light. The Rus’ people shall bless you in all the future generations, from your grandson and great-grandson to your furthermost descendants.” Olha replied: “By your prayers, O Master, let me be preserved from the wiles of enemies”. It is precisely in this way, with a slightly bowed head, that Saint Olha is often depicted in religious artwork. During her state visit, and following her baptism, Great princess Olha of Rus’ was fêted throughout Constantinople

Saint Olha devoted herself to efforts of Christian evangelization among the pagans, and also church construction, including Saint Sophia Cathedral. Yet, many despised her new found Christianity and paganism became emboldened. They looked to the reign of Svyatoslav who angrily spurned his mother’s Christianity. Meanwhile Byzantine church and state leaders were not eager to promote Christianity in Rus’. In Olha’s lifetime, Kyiv favored paganism and had second thoughts about even accepting Christianity. By order of Svyatoslav, churches were destroyed and Christians murdered. Byzantine political interests found the church and state looking to undermine Olha’s influence and favored the Rus’ pagans.

Olha attempted to help Svyatoslav during a period of wartime, though Kyiv was a backwater to his imperial interests for the next 18 years. In the spring of 969 the Pechenegs besieged Kyiv and Olha headed the defense of the capital. Svyatoslav rode quickly to Kyiv, and routed the nomads. But the warrior prince wished to rule elsewhere than Kiev. Svyatoslav dreamed of uniting all Rus’, Bulgaria, Serbia, the near Black Sea region and Priazovia (Azov region), and extend his borders to Constantinople. Olha warned her son that his plans were bound to fail as the Byzantine Empire was united and strong.

On July 11, 969 Saint Olha died. In her final years, with the triumph of paganism, she had to secretly practice her faith. Before her death, she forbade the pagan celebration of the dead at her burial and was openly buried in accord with Orthodox ritual. A priest who accompanied her to Constantinople in 957 fulfilled her request.

Considered by Ukrainians the holy equal of Great Prince Volodymyr, St. Olha was invoked by St. Volodymyr on the day the people of Rus’ were baptized. Before his countrymen, St. Volodymr said of St. Olha: “The sons of Rus’ bless you, and also the generations of your descendants.”

Cardinal Major Archbishop Josyf Slipyj (1892-1984), “Confessor of the Faith” and Founder of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. Cdl. Slipy was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities from 1945 to 1963 for refusing to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. He was finally set free through the intervention of Pope John XXIII and President John F. Kennedy.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 7.46 mb

A beautiful outdoor garden with the residential streets of Ukrainian Village as its background is the setting for the larger-than-life-sized statue of Major Archbishop Josyf Slipyj (1892-1984). He was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1965 and is a “Confessor of the Faith.” The founder of the parish, Cdl. Slipyj blessed the new church building’s cornerstone. Supporting the Ukrainian state and refusing to convert to Russian Orthodoxy, he was imprisoned by the Soviet authorities from 1945 to 1963. Through the intervention of St. Pope John XXIII and U.S. President John F. Kennedy, Josyf Slipj was released by Nikita Khrushchev in early 1963 and participated in the Second Vatican Council. Josyf Slipyj died in Rome in 1984 and his cause for canonization as a saint of the Catholic Church has been introduced at the Vatican.

Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church sit in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village.

Ukrainian Village. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 317 kb 30%

Ukrainian Village. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 316 kb 20%

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 6.86 mb

High above the sanctuary is a magnificent view of the main dome painted in bright colors with the figure of Christ Pantocrator. Christ gives his blessing as he holds an open book with the Greek letters: alpha and omega. It signifies one of Christ’s titles: “I am the beginning and the end” (Revelation, 21:6, 22:13).

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 5.88 mb

North Wall.

Chicago Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 7.84 mb

South Wall.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.54 mb

Parishioners praying and going to Communion at Sunday Mass.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.54 mb

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With the artists’ skills, the bright colors and evocative forms of the artwork surround churchgoers as they move toward the altar at Communion during the Divine Liturgy.

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The colorful and vibrant decorations that include paintings, carvings, vestments, books, stained glass, and more, are integral to the parish’s liturgy and life.

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Icon of Sts. Volodymyr and Olha with a smaller icon of the Blessed Virgin.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.47 mb

Every nook and cranny of the church is decorated with colorful images from religious and Catholic Ukrainian history. The natural light streaking down from the main dome’s windows adds a heavenly glow.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 6.15 mb

Two female haloed saints in a modern art style are marked by their unique attire as one holds an unfurled scroll with words in Ukrainian. Christianity arrived into Ukraine by way of the Greco-Byzantine world over 1000 years ago.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.90 mb

A painting of the dormition of Mary is emphasized by an icon of Mary and the child Jesus. Colors, forms, and subject matter are very high quality, soft and peaceful, making them pleasant to look at and pray with.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 6.18 mb

The wood carvings and full-length portrait icons are gorgeous. The fresh flower arrangements further brighten the scene.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 7.68 mb

Visitors are joined by worshippers lighting candles and praying before a large icon of Mary and the child Jesus.

Chicago. Sts. Volodymyr and Olha Church. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 10.68 mb

The main altar gate of carved wood with icons and gold curtain. The Last Supper in center above.

SOURCES:

Coulson, John, ed. The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary. Guild Press, 1957, pp. 577; 760-761.

Howe, Jeffrey. Houses of Worship: An Identification Guide to the History and Styles of American Religious Architecture. Thunder Bay Press, 2003.

Pacyga, Dominic A., and Ellen Skerrett. Chicago: City of Neighborhoods. Loyola University Press, 1986, p. 193.

Sinkevitch, Alice. AIA Guide to Chicago. 2nd ed. Harcourt, Inc., 2004, p. 260.

St. Elias Brampton. “St. Olha (Olga, Ol’ha).” Saint Elias (blog). July 11, 2017. Accessed April 26, 2022. https://www.saintelias.com/blog/2017/7/11/st-olha-olga-olha. [1]

John P. Walsh, 2015-16. All rights reserved. All text and photos are the property of the author, except for materials explicitly credited as public domain or licensed content.

Russian Tradition, Chicago Design: Louis Sullivan’s Holy Trinity Cathedral (1903).

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FEATURE Image: Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, 1121 N. Leavitt, Chicago. The walls of the church building are load-bearing brick covered with stucco. The bell tower and octagonal belfry, dome, and roof are made of wood with metal trim and latticework. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 2.80 mb

Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral demonstrates how Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924), best known for his commercial architecture, adapted his design genius to a modest immigrant church, creating a distinctive synthesis of Russian provincial tradition, Eastern Orthodox worship, and Sullivan’s own ornamental imagination within Chicago’s Ukrainian Village.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 6.48 mb

Louis H. Sullivan designed the bell tower (above and below) with its ornamentation and eaves and soffits for Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.16 mb

how Louis Sullivan adapted traditional Russian architecture to create the bell tower of Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral The octagonal open lantern where the bells hang is a classic feature of 17th-century Russian wooden architecture, traditionally referred to as an “octagon on a cube” (vosmerik na chetverike). Rising above the open belfry is a steep, grey-shingled tent-shaped roof. This architectural style was historically popular in Russia for its ability to keep heavy snow from piling up on church towers. The Wave-Like Roofline and slender window slats are Sullivanesque. Crowning both the main tent roof of the bell tower and the smaller side turret are brilliant golden onion domes. In Orthodox theology, the onion dome symbolizes a burning candle flame reaching up toward heaven.

Built in 1903 on a limited budget, the church is a relatively small structure whose architectural impact far exceeds its size.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 6.24 mb

Louis H. Sullivan designed the portal canopy (above) and its ornamentation such as the fretwork. Sullivan also designed the window frames (example below).

Louis H. Sullivan designed key architectural elements of the cathedral, including the bell tower, portal canopy, window frames, and decorative ornament.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 5.53 mb

Louis Sullivan’s genius directly merges with traditional Russian Orthodox geometry in this window, which serves a vital role in illuminating the church’s interior. The top of the window frame features a uniquely Sullivanesque, multi-tiered, stepped triangular pediment that beautifully complements the sharp lines of the building’s exterior roof eaves. Along the sides, the outer wooden posts feature finely routed parallel grooves and subtle decorative blocks. This style of ornamentation is a hallmark of Sullivan’s organic philosophy—using natural light and shifting shadows to give rigid wood components a rich, rhythmic texture.

Furthermore, each major pane of leaded glass features a complex geometric pattern centered on an octagon. While the octagon served as Sullivan’s favorite transitional shape to bridge the gap between square and circle, it simultaneously held a profound meaning for the Orthodox parish. This eight-pointed geometry carries a deep spiritual resonance, symbolizing the “Eighth Day” of creation (the eternal Kingdom of God) and echoing the architectural octagons found in the cathedral’s main dome and bell tower.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 5.84 mb

Holy Trinity Cathedral was built on a limited budget. It is a small building at 47 x 98 feet situated on an east-west axis. The main body of the church is square with extensions and an octagonal dome above. The picturesque country-church entrance has a metal and wood canopy whose design and ornamentation were created by the architect, Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924). Dedicated in 1903, the church was designated a cathedral in 1923.

Prominently featured in the foreground is a traditional Slavic-style wooden cutout Crucifixion scene, known as a Golgotha. Mounted inside an ornate white-and-gold carved wooden kiot (shrine framework) is a distinct icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The icons, the painted Golgotha cutout figures, and the surrounding sanctuary murals were painted by artist Genrik Borutsky and his workshop crew between 1902 and 1903.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 5.64 mb

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. July 2015. Author’s photograph. 2.80 mb

This exterior view of Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral captures the masterful architectural synthesis achieved by Louis Sullivan in 1903. Commissioned by 28-year-old Saint John Kochurov of Chicago in 1899, Sullivan deliberately blended traditional, rustic Russian provincial church aesthetics with modern American Prairie School and organic design principles.

Rather than grand stone or brick used in churches, Sullivan utilized a rough-textured stucco facade paired with heavy, natural wood ornamentation. Peeking out from the roofline on the left is the wooden octagonal lantern of the bell tower. Its open-air arched windows, multi-tiered flared roof profiles, and crowning golden onion dome are textbook elements of classical Russian Orthodox wooden church design. The deep, dramatic wooden overhang of the roofline supported by exposed structural wood rafters is a hallmark element of both Prairie School architecture. Above the two multi-paned windows are distinct, sharp triangular wooden pediments that are distinctively Sullivanesque. The building’s bell tower is organically shaped around the dome.

The church building was completed for around $27,000 in 1903 (approximately $1 million in 2022) with Sullivan donating half his commission to the church project.

Who is St. John of Chicago (1871-1917)?

After 12 years of fruitful missionary work in the American Midwest—where he helped establish several additional parishes and co-organized early Orthodox mutual aid societies—Father John returned to his native Russia in 1907.

In 1916, he was assigned to serve at St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo, a suburb of St. Petersburg. In October 1917, the violence of the Bolshevik Revolution erupted directly in his town. To ease panic, Father John organized an outdoor prayer procession through the streets, pleading for peace among the warring factions.

On October 31, 1917, Bolshevik forces stormed the town. Because he had prayed publicly for peace rather than endorsing the revolution, Father John was arrested by a Red Guard mob, dragged to the outskirts of town, and shot to death. This tragic event earned him the solemn historical distinction of becoming the proto-hieromartyr (the very first clergyman killed) of the Soviet era. He was officially canonized and glorified as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church in December 1994, and his memory is deeply celebrated every October 31st by Orthodox Christians globally, particularly at the cathedral he built in Chicago.

Historic photograph of the interior of Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago, originally taken in 1905 by a photographer for the Chicago Daily News. The image captures a service in the cathedral shortly after its completion, with Saint John Kochurov likely visible leading the parish. Public Domain.

Same view over 110 years later. Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 6.95 mb

The Eastern Orthodox central plan creates an interior where the congregation stands in a square space topped by an octagonal dome. For Easter services and the like, the cathedral is filled to capacity with parishioners and others spilling out the front door with its decorative canopy onto the public sidewalk.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.08 mb

Painted by Genrik Borutsky between 1902 and 1903 during the initial interior decoration of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago this mural is an exact full-scale replica of the fresco “The Ecumenical Councils” designed by the legendary Russian master Viktor Vasnetsov between 1885 and 1896 for St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The mural depicts a grouping of the Great Church Fathers and Bishops of the Early Christian Church. In front of a Byzantine domed cathedral is, from left to right, Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 296–373), Patriarch of Alexandria; Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329–390), Theologian; Saint Basil the Great (c. 330–379), Archbishop of Caesarea; Saint John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), Archbishop of Constantinople; Saint Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–395) or Saint Cyril of Alexandria; and Saint Nicholas of Myra (c. 270–343).

The congregation was composed largely of immigrants from regions near present-day Ukraine and the Carpathian Mountains.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 4.41 mb

The parishioners that built this church were rural people who had emigrated from southern Russia near the Ukraine as well as the area of the Carpathian Mountains.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 5.18 mb 99%

The photograph captures the sanctuary (altar area), the most sacred part of an Orthodox church, situated behind the iconostasis screen and accessible only to clergy.

• The Holy Table (Altar Table): In the foreground sits the square Holy Table, draped in bright red vestments and a gold liturgical stole (epitrachelion). Resting on top are liturgical items, including a heavy book of the Gospels and a hand cross.

• The Seven-Branch Candlestick: Positioned directly behind the Holy Table is an ornate, golden seven-branched candelabra modeled after a tree, flanked by hanging processional banners.

The murals along the curved apse wall represent the Great Hierarchs and Liturgists of the Church, rendered by Genrik Borutsky in 1902–1903 as exact copies of Viktor Vasnetsov’s masterpiece designs. Depicted, left to right, are Saint Gregory of Nazianzus; Saint Basil the Great; Saint John Chrysostom; and Saint Nicholas of Myra.

High above the central gold tabernacle structure is a separate, framed icon depicting the Holy Trinity (the Hospitality of Abraham).

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 8.26 mb

The image depicts Saint Mary Magdalene, as indicated by the Church Slavonic inscription at the bottom: “СВ РАВНОАП МАРIЯ МАГДАЛИНА” (Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene). In the Orthodox tradition, her title “Equal-to-the-Apostles” highlights her vital role in proclaiming Christ’s resurrection to the disciples. She carries the alabaster jar she brought to the empty tomb to anoint Jesus’s body.

While the architectural structure of the Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago was designed by legendary architect Louis Sullivan, the church’s traditional interior iconography and stenciled murals were executed based on the work of famous Russian artist Viktor Vasnetsov (V. N. Vasnetoff).

Vasnetsov was a leader of the 19th-century Russian revival movement, famed for blending historical Slavic folklore with classic Byzantine iconographic principles. The elaborate decorative borders, geometric framing, and gold accents wrapping around the pillar echo this late 19th-century style rather than Sullivan’s signature secular Art Nouveau ornamentation.

Chicago. Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral. October 2016. Author’s photograph. 6.27 mb

The stenciled artwork (above) is not by Louis H. Sullivan. Rather, the interior murals and iconographic schemes throughout the cathedral were executed by artist Genrik Borutsky and his team. Borutsky did not paint original compositions; instead, he meticulously painted full-scale copies of the monumental frescoes designed by legendary master Viktor Vasnetsov for St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine. Vasnetsov’s influential “Russian Revival” style defined late 19th-century Orthodox art by blending strict Byzantine iconographic rules with softer, emotional realist elements.

The two saints painted on this adjoining corner pillar are St. John the Baptist and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

The church stands as one of Sullivan’s most unusual and personal works, distinct from the skyscrapers and commercial buildings that made him famous.

SOURCES:

Chicago Churches and Synagogues: An Architectural Pilgrimage, George Lane, S.J., and Algimantas Kezys, Loyola University Press, Chicago, 1981, p. 106-107.

Alice Sinkevitch, AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, p. 260.

French Modernism on the Magnificent Mile: Jean-Paul Viguier’s Sofitel Chicago (2002).

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FEATURE image: Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile, 20 East Chestnut Street, Chicago, Illinois. architect: Jean-Paul Viguier. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.66mb

The Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile demonstrates how contemporary architecture can achieve both sculptural elegance and urban presence, bringing a distinctly French modernist sensibility to Chicago’s celebrated skyline while honoring the city’s tradition of architectural innovation.

Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile, Chicago, Illinois, Jean-Paul Viguier. At its opening the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) selected today’s Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile as the decade’s “best new building” in Chicago. The hotel opened in May 2002 with 415 rooms.

Jean-Paul Viguier and a Modern Chicago Landmark

Jean-Paul Viguier (b.1946) is a leading modern Paris-based French architect. In 2003 his Sofitel Chicago Water Tower (renamed the Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile) was chosen by the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as the “best new building in Chicago in the last ten years.” The hotel opened in May 2002 with 415 rooms. Its dramatic architecture made an immediate impression not only on the city’s denizens and visitors but much of the world.

Completed in 2002 during a new era of architectural growth in downtown Chicago. Distinctive prismatic wedge-shaped form recalls the prow of a ship or a cut crystal.

The glass triangular tower ascends and thrusts over the intersection of Chestnut and Wabash Streets. Narrowing as it rises, the shape could evoke a ship’s prow—or a geometer’s trapezoid. June 2014. Author’s photograph. 5.49mb

A Prism of Glass, Light, and Geometry

The prism-shaped, 350,000-square-foot structure was chosen by nearly 350 established Chicago-based architects as one of the city’s most outstanding achievements in architecture. The glass triangular tower ascends and thrusts over the intersection of Chestnut and Wabash Streets. Narrowing as it rises, the shape could evoke a ship’s prow—or a geometer’s trapezoid. Its expansive façades allow generous exposures of natural light as it faces east to capture sunrise over the incredible natural backdrop of Lake Michigan and southwest towards the timeless Midwestern prairie.

Adding to the building’s drama and welcome grace is its exterior of horizontal cladding of visible and opaque glass in synergy with the verticality of the building’s wedge and curve. Inside, the lobby continues this building’s dramatic modernity presenting a steely structural space that is airy, sleek, and soaring.

Winning the Competition

Mr. Viguier was selected to design Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile during a design competition in 1998 judged by Accor hotels leadership and others. Mr. Viguier is a member of the International Academy of Architecture (IAA) and was president of AFEX (French Architects Overseas) from 1999 to 2002.

Jean-Paul Viguier. Photo Credit: “File:Jean-Paul Viguier Wiki.jpg” by JPVAParis is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

An International Architectural Career

Mr. Viguier’s other internationally recognized projects include the France Televisions headquarters in Paris as well as the Cœur Défense in 2001 and the Tour Majunja in 2014 both in La Défense, France. The French architect built a two story expansion at the McNay Museum of Modern Art in San Antonio, Texas.

Mr. Viguier is also architect for the Maroc Telecom Tower in Rabat, Morocco in 2013, and, in 2015, the SFR Campus in Saint-Denis, France. Another highly regarded project is, in 2013, the Cancer University Institute in Toulouse, France.

Among America’s Favorite Buildings

The Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile is also listed at no. 82 in a public poll of 150 buildings of “America’s Favorite Architecture.” The poll was conducted by The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and Harris Interactive and in conjunction with the AIA’s 150th anniversary in 2007.  

Award-Winning Design

In 2005, Sofitel Chicago Magnificent Mile received the MIPIM Award at their international meeting of property market sector leaders gathering in Cannes, France. Created in 1991, the MIPIM Awards is an internationally-renowned real estate competition at MIPIM, the world’s property market. It honors the most outstanding and accomplished projects, completed or yet to be built, around the world, the very best of the real estate industry.

Demonstrates how hotel architecture can function as both commercial space and public art as it highlights the continued evolution of Chicago as a laboratory for innovative architectural design.

SOURCES:

American Institute of Architects. 2007. “The 150 Favorite Pieces of American Architecture.” NPR Legacy Document Server. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://legacy.npr.org/documents/2007/feb/buildings/150buildings.pdf.

Archello. n.d. “CAMPUS SFR (SFR Headquarters).” Accessed October 25, 2026. https://archello.com/project/campus-sfr-sfr-headquarters.

Archello. n.d. “Cancer University Institute.” Accessed October 25, 2026. https://archello.com/project/cancer-university-institute.

Fedderly, Eva. 2018. “Inside Chicago’s Sustained Architecture Boom.” Architectural Digest, October 9, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/chicago-architecture-boom.

Floor Focus. 2007. “AIA Poll of America’s Favorite Buildings Released.” FloorDaily, February 12, 2007. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.floordaily.net/floorfocus/aia-poll-of-americas-favorite-buildings-released.

Hospitality Net. 2002. “Designed by Jean-Paul Viguier, The Slender Glimmering White Hotel, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, Opens.” Hospitality Net Landmark Openings, May 31, 2002. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4019734.html.

International Academy of Architecture. n.d. “Member’s Profiles: Jean-Paul Viguier.” IAA-NGO Portfolio. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://iaa-ngo.com/portfolio-posts/jean-paul-viguier/.

Sinkevitch, Alice, ed. 2004. AIA Guide to Chicago. 2nd ed. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc.

Viguier. n.d. “Accueil / VIGUIER Architecture Urbanisme Paysage.” Accessed October 25, 2026. https://www.viguier.com/en.

Viguier. n.d. “McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas.” Projects Registry. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.viguier.com/en/projets/mcnay-museum-san-antonio-texas.

Viguier. n.d. “Maroc Telecom Tower, Rabat.” Projects Registry. Retrieved May 24, 2021. https://www.viguier.com/en/projets/tour-maroc-telecom-rabat.

Steel, Glass, and Vision: Helmut Jahn’s Chicago Legacy, 1966-2021.

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FEATURE image: Helmut Jahn, State of Illinois (Thompson) Center, 100 W. Randolph, Chicago, Illinois, 1979-1985. The Thompson Center was officially bought by Google in 2022 for a reported $105 million. May 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.75 mb

Helmut Jahn was one of the most influential architects in shaping late-20th-century Chicago, blending the legacy of Miesian modernism with bold postmodern experimentation to create buildings that transformed the city’s architectural identity and projected Chicago’s influence onto the world stage.

German-American postmodernist architect Helmut Jahn (1940-2021) is a leading postmodern architect responsible for scores of projects internationally. Retrospective exhibition Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture held at the Chicago Architecture Center, July 23, 2021, through October 31, 2021. Following his passing in May 2021, the exhibition showcased Jahn’s collaborative engineering process and featured personal items, scaled architectural models, and photography of his work—such as O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 1. The angled, sail-like canvas banner walls were custom-designed as a subtle nod to Jahn’s passionate love for professional sailboat racing. PHOTO; “Final weekend of the Helmut Jahn exhibit at @chiarchitecture” by reallyboring is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Helmut Jahn arrived in Chicago in 1966, studied at IIT under the influence of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and became a major figure in the city’s architectural development for over five decades.

Helmut Jahn, 1 S. Monroe, 1982. August 2021. 5.56mb DSC_9293 (1)

Introduction.

Helmut Jahn was famous in Chicago and around the world for his prolific postmodern architecture particularly his work in steel and glass.

Born in Germany near Nuremberg, in 1940, Jahn graduated from Technische Hochschule in Munich and moved to Chicago in 1966. Jahn arrived in Chicago just as “downtown development” during the administration of Mayor Richard J. Daley (1902-1976) was finding its greatest momentum. Jahn began to study under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and, in 1967, joined Charles (C.F.) Murphy Associates which later became Murphy/Jahn. The younger man would carry on the powerful influence and energy of these Chicago personalities for building big, creatively, and prolifically for the next fifty years into the first quarter of the 21st century. Jahn would add his own significant contribution and footprint in Chicago and around the nation and world in those same long years of his activity.

One of Jahn’s early projects in his first years in Chicago was McCormick Place. The original concrete and steel permanent exposition hall on the lakefront that opened in 1960 was destroyed in a fire in January 1967, just as Jahn was starting to work as a professional architect. Named for Col. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper owner and publisher had boosted the idea of a permanent exposition hall on Chicago’s lakefront for years prior to his death in 1955.

Jahn’s Chicago career coincided with the city’s continued downtown expansion following landmark projects such as the John Hancock Center and Sears Tower.

Jahn had come to Chicago at an exciting time to be building there — during Jahn’s first years in Chicago the John Hancock Building was completed in 1969 and the Sears Tower, the tallest building in the world for the next 24 years, was completed in 1974. In 1971, C.F. Murphy completed the new and massive McCormick Place, a powerful steel and glass structure with enormous cantilever eaves, on the same lakefront site as the old exposition hall. Out of that single successful building project, Helmut Jahn and the rest of the world saw the significant development in Chicago that would blossom around this important and functional modern architecture over ensuing decades — including the North building constructed across Lake Shore Drive in 1986; the South building built in 1996; a hotel built in 1998; the massive West building built in 2007; and, in 2017, the Wintrust Arena.

In the mid 1980’s one of Jahn’s most significant creations was the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago. Aesthetically grandiose and controversial, the “State of Illinois Building” was put up for sale in 2021 by the administration of Governor J.B. Pritzker, citing its historically high operating and maintenance costs.

Jahn designed the 23-story addition to the Chicago Board of Trade in 1980 and Accenture Tower at 500 W. Madison in the West Loop which opened in 1987. Across the nation and world Helmut Jahn’s fresh, grand, and innovative designs have made their way into the annals of postmodern architecture. Any complete list of Helmut Jahn’s active and completed projects extends necessarily into the many scores. A list of notable buildings could include the 1999 K St. NW, a 12-story structure, in Washington D.C. completed in 2009; the twin 37-story Veers Towers in Las Vegas, Nevada opened in 2010; and, in his native Germany, the 63-story Messeturm in Frankfurt opened in 1990 and the Sony Center, a complex of eight buildings, in Potsdamer Platz in Berlin completed in 2000. The hard-driving list goes on…and on.

In Chicago Jahn designed the exposed steel frame United Airlines Terminal 1 at O’Hare International Airport between 1985 and 1988. Air travelers for decades have enjoyably traversed its entertaining walkway connecting concourses that include moving sidewalks, colorful lighting and futuristic sounds.

At the time of his death at 81 years old on May 8, 2021 in a bike road accident in the far western suburbs of Chicago, Helmut Jahn was working on a 74-story residential building in Chicago at 1000 S. Michigan. It was scheduled to be opened in 2022 but its construction was already delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic that postponed construction. Helmut Jahn taught at IIT, the University of Illinois-Chicago, Harvard University, and Yale University. In 2012 Murphy/Jahn became JAHN and, according to a recent report from Dun & Bradstreet, the firm had a total of 55 employees and generated a little over $6 million in annual sales.

Xerox Center, 55 West Monroe, Chicago, 1977-1980.

In what was one of Helmut Jahn’s first great urban achievements, the 40-story office tower on an important corner in downtown Chicago was built on speculation and soon took the name of its major tenant (Xerox). The sleek and simple curtain wall of enameled off-white fluoropolymer aluminum panels and reflective glass slide over a reinforced concrete structure and around its soft postmodern corners in contrast to the modernist box.

The tower is fitted to its site where the building’s corner is exaggerated at street level with varying glaze percentages, and the white-black-silver palette of the lobby follows a diagonal pattern (also on the roof) in contrast to the exterior curvilinear design.

Silver double-glazed reflective glass pays homage to 1950’s and 1960’s Chicago modernism and the Xerox building’s closest neighbors: the kitty-corner Inland Steel Building (1954-1958, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill) and, directly across to the north, the First National (today, Chase) Bank building (1964-1969, C.F. Murphy Associates with Perkins and Will).

Helmut Jahn (C.F. Murphy Associates)/Murphy Jahn. Xerox Center, 55 West Monroe, Chicago, 1977-1980. December 2014. Author’s photograph. 5.60 mb 99%

Some have observed that Jahn’s curving tower may have been inspired by Louis Sullivan’s 1899 Schlesinger and Mayer department store building on State Street (what became in 1904 Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building and today is The Sullivan Center). The 1980 project’s original conception was for two curvilinear towers though obviously only one was constructed obfuscating and negating the original design’s uniquely bold impacts.

The glass and aluminum are arranged to alternate in horizontal bands which have modernist predecessors in Chicago and Europe. Hidden from the street view are more diagonals that cut a pattern across the roof. The building is a major transition for Jahn who, steeped in mid-20th century Modernism, harkened back to earlier 1920s modernist sources for the 55 W. Monroe (Xerox) building. The author’s photograph was taken on December 24, 2014.

SOURCES for 55 W. Monroe:
Building Chicago: The Architectural Masterworks, John Zukowsky, New York: Rizzoli with Chicago History Museum, 2016, p. 237.

AIA Guide to Chicago, 2nd Edition, Alice Sinkevitch, Harcourt, Inc., Orlando, 2004, p. 67.

The Sky’s The Limit: A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers, Jane H. Clarke, Pauline A. Saliga, John Zukowsky, New York: Rizzoli, 1990, p. 233.

Chicago Architecture and Design, 3rd Edition, Jay Pridmore and George A. Larson. New York: Abrams, 2018, pp. 210-211.

Helmut Jahn, Nory Miller, New York: Rizzoli, 1986, pp. 76-81.

Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph, Chicago, 1979-1985.

N.B. Following a massive $280 million redevelopment that kicked off in 2024, the building that was sold for $30 million in 2022 will become Google’s Chicago headquarters for its 2,000 Chicago-based employees. Google is scheduled to occupy the iconic Helmut Jahn downtown building by 2026. see – https://chicago.suntimes.com/real-estate/2024/05/06/thompson-center-google-prime-capri-redevelopment-loop-headquarters – retrieved September 19, 2024.

Helmut Jahn, State of Illinois (Thompson) Center, 100 W. Randolph, Chicago, Illinois, 1979-1985. The building is massive at 1.15 million square feet. The rounded facade was intended to embody the traditional architectural history of monumental rotundas and domes. When it was built in the early 1980s it was one of the most exciting projects taking place downtown. Sitting across the street from a classical revival City Hall (1911) and a modernist Daley Center (1965), the postmodern 1980’s monstrosity by Murphy/Jahn was criticized for being out of context in the neighborhood. Yet, over the following decades, negative criticism increasingly faded. May 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.75 mb

There were mixed reviews for Helmut Jahn’s massive semi-circular Thompson Center at 100 W. Randolph completed in 1985. The criticism begins at its entrance where Jahn saw placed “Outsider” French artist Jean Dubuffet’s fiberglass Monument with Standing Beast. During the building’s planning and construction some of the architect’s dazzling concepts met with resistance from contractors. For example, the contractors prevailed over Jahn’s idea for a completely locked-down outer skin using silicone glazing. In the final construction the appearance of red, white, and blue locked-down skin belies the several places throughout the design where windows are made to be opened. Inside, though its soaring 17-story atrium is airy and impressive exposing floors that hold various state bureaucracy—and signaling the idea of state government’s day-to-day practice towards transparency — the practicalities of the new building’s heating and cooling design proved seriously problematic during Chicago’s summer heat and winter cold though that major issue appeared to be eventually resolved. In 2021 Jahn’s mega-structure has been put up for sale by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker from Chicago citing that the building costs hundreds of millions of dollars to operate and maintain. The photograph was taken by the author on May 25, 2014.

The State of Illinois Center from the southwest Randolph and LaSalle Streets. Setbacks divide the building into three tiers seen here. August 2021. Author’s phtograph 99% 7.65mb _9369

The pink and gray granite arcade provides a covered street-level passageway and is a contrast to the silver and opaque blue ornamental glass. August 2021. Author’s photograph. 99% 7.22mb_9380

The rotunda with its skylit atrium is 160 feet in diameter. The massive airy space is met by circular walkways and freestanding bank of glass elevators. August 2021. Author’s photograph. 70% 7.87 mb_9381

The rotunda has an elaborately paved granite floor with tens of thosand of square feet of retail space. August 2021. Author’s photograph. 99% 6.87 mb_9384

1 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, 1982.

Helmut Jahn, One South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 1979-1982. On a corner site, Jahn’s design is a freely translated interpretation of a 1920s stepped back tower with the building’s skin a stylized exaggeration of vertical windows and stone facades of the same 1920s’ period structures. May 2014. Author’s photograph. 4.45 mb

To the left is UBS Tower (1 N. Wacker) built in 2001 and to the right is Hyatt Center ( 71 S. Wacker) built in 2005. At 42 years old, Jahn spoke of his building at 1 S. Wacker as a synthesis of two major Chicago architectural styles—that of Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) and, Jahn’s mentor and fellow German, Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969). The building is a concrete stepped-back 50-story building with a curtain wall of dark glass defining the vertical bands of windows. Its vision remains fresh and stunning as it sits majestically between two postmodern buildings built in Chicago a generation later. The author’s photograph was taken on May 25, 2014.

Floors in each section of the stepped back tower are of three different sizes, each six thousand square feet less as the building ascends. The setbacks’ atria allow in natural daylight. August 2021. Author’s photograph. 78% 7.77mb _9293

Helmut Jahn, One South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 1979-1982. December 2017. Author’s photograph. 6.27mb DSC_0567 (1)

IIT’s Rowe Village, Chicago, 2005.

Helmut Jahn, Jeanne and John Rowe Village at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Chicago, Illinois, 2003. August 2015. Author’s photograph. 3.67 mb

Jahn’s architecture often drew from Chicago traditions while reinterpreting them through contemporary materials and dramatic forms.

Originally called the State Street Village Dormitories, Jahn’s postmodern structure that anchors the campus to the east, consists of three five-story buildings. Jahn’s design was the first major architectural addition to the IIT campus since the early 1960’s. U.S. News & World Report called it one of the “coolest dorms in the nation.” Stretching one city block along busy State Street from 33rd to 34th Streets, Rowe Village is next to the El tracks whose Green Line zips back and forth to Chicago’s Loop. Each dorm building consists of two wings that flank an interior courtyard. The building is finished at the rear on 34th street by an insulated five-story glass wall. Entry is through the courtyard which leads into a corridor that connects the two wings. It is built of reinforced concrete with the front elevations and roof dressed in custom corrugated stainless steel panels and tinted glass framed in aluminum. The building’s sleek curvature, three compartments and chained block-long length, reflects and evokes the image of a streamlined train making for a building as Art Moderne object in the Miesian tradition. From its rooftop the Rowe Village looks north for views of Chicago’s downtown skyline while the dorm offers suite-style living in a modern setting surrounded by the mind, serious and playful, of Helmut Jahn. The photograph was taken by the author on August 21, 2015.

SOURCES for above:

https://web.iit.edu/housing/jeanne-john-rowe-village – retrieved May 9, 2021.

AIA Guide To Chicago, 2nd edition, edited by Alice Sinkevitch, 2004, pp.73 and 91.

Illinois Institute of Technology: the campus guide: an architectural tour, Franz Schulze, 2005, pp.83-4.

Chicago’s Lakefront McCormick Place, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Vs5VZprFE – retrieved May 9, 2021.

Chicago’s Famous Buildings, 5th edition, Franze Schulze and Kevin Harrington, The University of Chicago Press, 2003, pp. 104-105.

https://www.architecture.org/learn/resources/architecture-dictionary/entry/helmut-jahn/

https://www.dnb.com/business-directory/company-profiles.murphy-jahn_inc.5e1fc35946048f1332755d271c944303.html – retrieved May 10, 2021

https://www.jahn-us.com/ – retrieved May 10, 2021.

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/UA_Terminal-O_Hare.html– retrieved May 10, 2021.

https://www.aviationpros.com/airports/consultants/architecture/news/21222012/helmut-jahn-chicagos-starchitect-to-the-world-was-the-visionary-behind-uniteds-ohare-terminal – retrieved May 10, 2021.

https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/lighting/1999-k-st-nw_o – retrieved May 10, 2021.

Helmut Jahn, Nory Miller, New York: Rizzoli, 1986, pp. 76-81.

Beacon of the Midwest: The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse (1893) and the Making of a Great Lakes Metropolis.

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FEATURE image: Chicago Harbor Lighthouse (1893), Chicago, Illinois, 2017. Author’s photograph.

The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse (1893) stands as a symbol of the city’s rise as the principal commercial gateway between the Great Lakes and the American interior. More than a navigational aid, the lighthouse helped facilitate the maritime commerce, transportation networks, and industrial expansion that transformed Chicago into the economic capital of the Midwest.

Constructed in 1893, the year of the World’s Columbian Exposition, during a period of extraordinary growth for Chicago.

Known as the “Chicago Light,” the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse is an active automated lighthouse dating from 1893.

About one-half mile beyond Navy Pier, the lighthouse stands at the north of the main entrance of the Chicago Harbor in Lake Michigan. The lighthouse has had a significant role in the development of Chicago and the American Midwest and remains an active aid to nautical navigation today.

For more than a century, the U.S. Coast Guard has staffed this lighthouse at the breakwater outside the Chicago Harbor Lock. The lock separates Lake Michigan from the mouth of the Chicago River.

Guided ships on Lake Michigan safely into Chicago Harbor built in 1880, supporting both commercial shipping and passenger traffic.

The lock was built in the mid-1930’s and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lock is one of the entrances into the Illinois Waterway system at the Great Lakes. The waterway system is a commercial and recreational shipping connection to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

The “Chicago Light” is at that waterway system’s headwaters as it stands in the outer harbor constructed in 1880. The Chicago Light’s conical tower dates from 1893. Twenty-five years later, in 1918, the tower was reconstructed and the base building which contains a fog-signal room and boathouse was added. The architects are not identified.

Through its breakwaters, the main entrance into Chicago Harbor is 580 feet wide. The Chicago Harbor Lighthouse was designated a Chicago Landmark on April 9, 2003. It is the only surviving lighthouse in Chicago and one of two remaining examples in the state of Illinois.

What a view from the frozen waters of Lake Michigan! CBS 2 photojournalist Alfredo Roman shot this drone video of the Chicago Harbor Lighthouse, which has endured a lot of icy weather since it was built.

About one mile ahead from this photograph’s location is the Chicago Harbor Lock. Built in the 1930’s, it provides the entrance/exit to the Illinois Waterway system at the Great Lakes. The waterway system is a commercial and recreational shipping connection from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

Looking east from Chicago towards Lake Michigan, the mouth of the Chicago River. PHOTO: “chicago river.” by alyssaBLACK. is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

As a historic landmark, the Chicago Light represents the often-overlooked maritime foundations of Chicago’s wealth and development as it continues to serve as an active aid to navigation today.

SOURCES:

The Chicago River: an illustrated history and guide to the river and its waterways, David M. Solzman, Wild Onion Books, Chicago, 1998, pp.126-128.
Chicago Landmarks Map [brochure], City of Chicago, 2006.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070410173708/http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/C/ChicagoHarborLighthouse.html – retrieved December 2, 2017.