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Office Buildings of the Chicago School: the Restoration of the Reliance Building

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Office Buildings of the Chicago School: the Restoration of the Reliance Building Stephen J. Kelley Office Buildings of the Chicago School: The Restoration of the Reliance Building The American Architectural Hislorian Carl Condit wrote of exterior enclosure. These supporting brackets will be so ihe Reliance Building, "If any work of the structural arl in arranged as to permit an independent removal of any pari the nineteenth Century anticipated the future, it is this one. of the exterior lining, which may have been damaged by The building is the Iriumph of the structuralist and funclion- fire or otherwise."2 alist approach of the Chicago School. In its grace and air- Chicago architect William LeBaron Jenney is widely rec- iness, in the purity and exactitude of its proportions and ognized as the innovator of the application of the iron details, in the brilliant perfection of ils transparent eleva- frame and masonry curtain wall for skyscraper construc- tions, it Stands loday as an exciting exhibition of the poten- tion. The Home Insurance Building, completed in 1885, lial kinesthetic expressiveness of the structural art."' The exhibited the essentials of the fully-developed skyscraper Reliance Building remains today as the "swan song" of the on its main facades with a masonry curtain wall.' Span• Chicago School. This building, well known throughout the drei beams supported the exterior walls at the fourth, sixth, world and lisled on the US National Register of Historie ninth, and above the tenth levels. These loads were Irans- Places, is presenlly being restored. Phase I of this process ferred to stone pier footings via the metal frame wilhout which addresses the exterior building envelope was com- load-bearing masonry walls.'1 The strueture however had pleted in November of 1995. The design/builder of the no System of lateral Support and the masonry envelope project was McCIier/UBM, a joint venture of a Chicago alone was considered sufficient to stiffen the frame. based Architectural and General Contracting firms. Wiss, Jenney trained many of the architects who designed Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. of Chicago acted as Chicagos early skyscrapers including Daniel Burnham, facade Consultant and was responsible for the investiga- William Holabird, Martin Roche, and Louis Sullivan. The tion and restoration of facade elements including the terra steel frame and masonry curtain wall technique was fully cotta and Windows. Phase II, which will address the inter- developed within a few years by these architects, and ior, is sei to begin as early as 1997. was utilized in a functional aesthetic that came to be known as the Chicago School of Architecture. The evolu- tion of structural techniques used in skyscraper construetion The Reliance Building and the History of rapidly accelerated over the next decade. By 1890 steel had supplanted casl iron for skeletal framing and afforded the Skyscraper the opportunity to develop rigid beam-column connections The main stream of Chicagos building history recom- which could not be realized with the brittle cast iron. Skel• menced öfter 1871, when the Great Chicago fire devas- etal frames were beginning to be designed to work inde- tated the City. Despite this catastrophe - and due to a pendently of the masonry envelope and not rely on the strong local economy, the high cost of land, and rapidly exterior walls to achieve lateral stability.' evolving building technologies - Chicago quickly rose As skeletal framing came into common use, masonry bear- from the ashes and afforded an opportunity for the realiza- ing wall construetion reoched its practical limit. Burnham lion of innovations in architecture, engineering and con- and Root's 16-story Monadnock Block (Chicago, 1891) struclion which established il as the birthplace of the sky• utilized tradilional load-bearing masonry wolls which at scraper. The German-American civil engineer Frederick ground-floor level were almost 2 meters thick. This building Baumann, who had settled in Chicago, promulgaled the was also the first to utilize the rigid steel frame to achieve firsl rational technique for foundation design for the new lateral sliffness. At the same time, Burnham and Root devel• skyscraper. In describing the skyscraper, he wrote: oped a complete steel frame for the Rand McNally Build• "The design is to erect on foundations a firm and rigid ing IChicago, 1890). They also developed a steel frame skeleton, or hull, of iron,.. The enclosure, whether of stone, laterally stiffened with a diagonal bracing System in the terra cotta, or brick, or any combinalion of these materi- 20story Masonic Temple (Chicago, 1892].' These latter als, may be erected al the same time the iron strueture is two struetures allowed for smaller columns and larger Win• being put in place. But the latter might proeeed much dows at the streel level for increased daylight and renta• faster than the former; while the hull might be roofed within ble retail space where the highest rent was demanded. Of rwo monlhs, the enclosure might not have proeeeded fur• these struetures and dozens of others that were realized in ther than the fourth story. Thus there need be no delay to the next few years only a handful, including the Monad• a steady progress. Light, the great desideralum in all city nock Building, remain. buildings, is secured, even on the lowest - the most valu- An archetype of the Chicago School and example of the able - floors, whereas, otherwise, the necessarily broad structural innovations of the period can be found in the Reli• piers would be a hindrance. The iron uprights are to be ance Building. The Reliance Building curtain wall of terra provided with a series of projecting brockets for the pur- cotta is a clear aesthetic expression of the underlying strue• pose of anchoring and supporting the parts forming the ture and provides a maximum of natural lighting. This 63 IIU 1868 for the First National Bank of Chicago. Though Chicago, view ol the corr slwction of the tower por- largely destroyed by the Chicago fire, it was rehabilitated tion ol the Reliance Build• as a four-story office structure. Developer William E. Haie ing The loot scaflolding at purchased the building in 1882 and by 1889 had the loot ol the tower was JM entered into a contract with his friend, architect Daniel used os the 100I ol the Department Store thot was Burnham, to erect a 16-story structure on the site to be 8 open lot business in the called the Reliance Building. Construction was sei to structure directly below. nn* begin in 1890 and the design was prepared by Visible in this photograph is Burnham's partner, John Wellborn Root. A stipulation of the the System ol casl iron mul- suf construction as work began was that habitation by com- lions and roils that would liEV mercial lenants, who had a Standing lease until 1894, hold the lixed glass and min onlo which most ol the Iffl" rnrill was to continue during construction. This feat was accom- terra cotla was attached. FFFRI- üip iUli im plished by raising the existing masonry edifice on jack Hill iiiiiiiiiiiiiii screws while the foundations, basement, ground floor, and EGEßR Iii mezzanine of the Reliance Building were constructed. The ninniniiii"! inhabitants above were leff relatively undislurbed and RBrr l|i accessed their office by temporary stairs constructed solely Iii for this purpose. The new space below was leased by the RR II Carson Pirie Scott Department Store which occupied the 'nun; space in lote 1891Due to the existing lease that did not HR iiiiJiJ'SJSIIIIIHS expire until 1894 and the economic recession of 1893, fcfa the tower portion of the project could not proceed until KS 1895. By this lime Root had died at the age of 41 due to In y an unfortunate illness and his design, of which no indica- f tions remain today, was changed. The new design was m that of Charles Atwood, an associate of Burnham and Root who had been hired to oversee the Reliance Building project. Demolition of the raised edifice and construction on the upper floors proceeded with the new lenants left undisturbed below.10 facade trealment has been compared to the "Glass Sky- The construction of the Reliance Building illustraled all of Chicago, Reliance Build• scraper", a study project developed by Ludwig Mies van the modern construction lechniques which had come into ing: The buikhip ol com- der Rohe in 1921 whereby a skeleton with cantilever widespread use at the end of the 19" Century to facilitate pressive Stresses within the slabs was shealhed totally in glass/ rapid construction. The construction site was Iii, so work lacode hod coused mul- lions lo Iracture and hun- The predecessor building to the Reliance Building was a could continue into the night. Work Spaces were enclosed dreds ol terra cotto unils to five-story masonry structure that had been constructed in and heated, so the project could proceed during the win- crack and split. This was the Single most prevalenl 1 cause ol deterioralion. m Za f Chicago. Reliance Build• ing: Corrosion ol wroughl iron clamps within the terra cotta and the consequent expansion ol the corrosion Wt ptoduct also caused large m Crocks and lissures to open up within the lacode. These openings promoted hjrther waler inliltralion and occelerated the corro- sion process. Irighll Iii 64 ter monlhs. The erection of the structural frame required only fifteen days, beginning in mid July and topping off on Chicago, histoilc view ol August 1, 1894 The skeletal frame was realized as a the Masonic Temple ßurn- harn and Rooi. I892I. rigid frame and ulilized mild steel. The Iwo-story 'Gray This building. now cfafDOr columns', named after their invenlor, were erected with ished. ulilized a sieel frame slaggered joinls and further increased the rigidity of the A ihal was lalerally slillened wilh a diagonal bracing frame.'•' The exterior cladding enclosed the building by iWi M System and did nol rely on November 8" thereby securing the structure for winter [CEE IUI (he masonry curtain wall work.
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