RELIANCE BUILDING

View Description

small (250x250 max)

medium (500x500 max)

large ( > 500x500)

Full Resolution

This item is restricted to only allow viewing of the metadata.

Description

Rating
Title	RELIANCE BUILDING
View	Close view of the entire north facade, lower section, looking slightly up
Notes	administrative
Work Type	office building skyscraper
Style/Period	Early Modern Chicago School
Creator Name	Burnham, Daniel Hudson
Creator Nationality	American
School of Creator	Chicago School
Date.Creator Birth	1846
Date.Creator Death	1912
Elements & Spatial Types	exterior fire escape
Climate Type	cold temperate
Country	United States of America
City	Chicago
State/Province	IL
Architectural Material	terra-cotta
Structural System	steel frame
Dates	1890-1894
Century	19C
Photographer	Scott Gilchrist, Archivision
Date Photographed	9/30/1991
Subject Information	The four initial floors of the fourteen-storey Reliance Building, designed by Charles B. Atwood of Daniel Burnham's office and the structural engineer E.C. Shankland, were erected in 1890. This being the first comprehensive achievement of the system now known as Chicago construction, was repeated innumerable times in Chicago in the building boom that lasted from 1890 to 1893. It consisted of a riveted steel-frame superstructure, hollow-tile flooring on steel joists, plaster fire-proofing, perimeter bay windows filled with plate glass, steel-trussed wind bracing and bedrock concrete caissons sometimes extending for as much as 125 feet beneath the footing... Source, Kenneth Frampton and Yukio Futagawa, Modern Architecture 1851-1945, p 63. / 'The Reliance Building is one of the greatest icons of American architecture. It is proof that the early skyscraper style, known as the Chicago School, was not just a precursor of modern architecture. This building is one of the finest high-rise buildings of any time. This sixteen-story building is one of the first glass tower skyscrapers. The framing for the top ten floors was done in fifteen days. Designer Charles Atwood used glass at every opportunity. He folded the bay windows out from the frame to completely hide the columns and balanced huge picture windows with narrow ones of double-hung sashes. It was originally designed in 1890 by John W. Root. The pre-existing building on the site was temporarily supported while foundations and some structure on the ground level floor were constructed. This portion of the building designed by Root is distinguished by its granite cladding. After Root's death, Charles B. Atwood redesigned the building, altering the building's aesthetics. Instead of the heavy masonry articulation designed by Root, Atwood used glazed terra-cotta which appears to be wrapped around the structural frame and projecting window bays.' Source: http://members.aol.com/dahlia773/reliance.htm
Credit Line	Archivision Inc. (all images copyright Scott Gilchrist / Archivision.com)
Collection Title	Archivision (architecture, urban design, gardens, landscapes and public art)
Collection information	Collection administered by the Visual Resources manager, Architecture Library, (402) 472-1193

Find results with:

Searching collections:

Home RELIANCE BUILDING

RELIANCE BUILDING

Description

Tags

Comments