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| Eliel Saarinen (Google Image) |
In 1923 the great Finnish architect Eliel
Saarinen came to Chicago after his design in the competition for Tribune Tower
placed second. Settling in Evanston and working on a scheme to develop the Chicago lakefront, he was clearly taken with the potential that
Chicago possessed.
He said as much that year, observing, “Someday
day you shall be the most beautiful city in the world. You shall outdo Paris. She has her Seine; you have the lake. No other city possesses such possibilities,
such space for beauty, next the heart of her business section.”
From that moment on Chicago got to work.
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately about
Chicago in the late 1920’s, and it must have been an amazing time. Hundreds of miles of roads were being widened,
hundreds more paved for the first time.
The Chicago River was straightened south of Polk Street. Lake Shore Drive was extended all the way to
Hollywood. South Water Street was reborn
as the double-decked Wacker Drive.
Michigan Avenue was widened, and the Michigan Avenue bridge turned the
little country lane that was Pine Street into the Magnificent Mile.
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| Straightening the Chicago River (Forgotten Chicago) |
Between 1926 and 1930, in less than four years,
168 buildings taller than ten stories were built, including the Daily News
Building and the Civic Opera Building, facing off against one another across
the river, finished within three months of one another.
It must have been an incredible time with new
schemes announced every couple of weeks, plans that would transform the city,
providing the foundation for the great modern city that we know today.
But not every plan was practical, and many
ideas were tabled. The city debated the
possibility of a subway system for nearly three decades. The link bridge across the river at Lake
Shore Drive took nearly 15 years of negotiating before it was finally built.
I came across one scheme, though, that really made
me chuckle.
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| The Main Post Office in Better Days (Google Image) |
An article that ran in The Chicago Tribune on
July 21, 1927 began with this headline:
PLAN AIRPORT ON TOP OF CHICAGO’S NEW POST OFFICE.
The proposed main post office was to be 320
feet wide and 600 feet long, but the article reported, “Government officials
believe that within a few years it will be possible for planes to land and take
off in a limited area and in anticipation they are making provision for a six
acre landing field on the building . . .”
In some ways the scheme made perfect
sense. The new post office was to back up to the
brand new Union Station, a plan that allowed the direct handling of mail to and
from trains entering the station. Combine
air mail and mail car connections at the same facility, and you have got
yourself a doozy of a new post office.
The article conceded “Aviators generally do not
believe the roof to be of sufficient area for landing in flying’s present state
. . .”
It went on to state, though, “Inasmuch as
congress has not yet appropriated for the new post office building, the thought
back of the roof plan is that by the time the building is erected the airmen
will be able to make it serve their purposes . . . numerous plane manufacturers
are experimenting with devices intended to stop a plane soon after it comes
down.”
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| Clearly, an awesome site for an airport (Google Image) |
Of course, the post office was completed in
1932. It had 2,485,000 square feet of
space and room for 5,500 postal employees.
The rooftop aerodrome was scrapped early on in
the process. Instead, Graham,
Anderson, Probst and White provided space for an eight-lane highway to run
right through the middle of the building. The highway wasn't finished for another 23 years, but if everything had been done according to the original plan it would have been great fun to watch the planes landing and taking off on the roof while driving toward the tunnel beneath the largest post office in the world.
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2 comments:
Loved this one, they sure had unique ideas!
I definitely agree with making lists for blog ideas.
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