Chicago | Burnham Plan Civic Center | 400-550 feet | 1909 | NEVER BUILT

[Chicago103]

With the centential of the Chicago Burnham Plan just behind us I ponder about the never built centerpiece of the plan.

Here are some images:




The massive domed building was supposed to be a new Chicago City Hall, not built because Chicago was already constructing its current City Hall in 1909. There is no exact figure of what its height was supposed to be, I read a casual reference of it being "forty stories or more high", so I would guess it would be 400-550 feet tall, it would have probably be the highest domed building even to this day. The building would have been exactly above where the UIC/Halsted stop of the blue line is today, on top of the Eisenhower Expressway. Burnham envisioned Congress Parkway (which evolved into the Eisenhower Expressway) as the axis of the city. The massive plaza in front of the domed building would have been right over the present day sight of the Circle Expressway Interchange.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ So even if it were completed, we would have been saved from this ill-proportioned monstrosity anyhow...

*this is somewhat tongue in cheek*

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ So even if it were completed, we would have been saved from this ill-proportioned monstrosity anyhow...

*this is somewhat tongue in cheek*

I am slightly confused by your post.

So would you be for or against the construction of this Civic Center hypothetically?

If by monster you mean the circle interchange which is a waste of space being above ground that could be public space again.

If they ever had the funding to cap all of the downtown expressways (most of which are below grade anyways) including the circle intechange itself it would create wide green boulevards and this massive public plaza above the circle interchange. The dome would be pretty cool IMO too, granted I think it was designed to be the tallest building in the city circa 1909 by reading the Burnham Plan but it would still dominate the Near West Side of today, it would look particularly great from the west where you would see the domed building dominating everything and then the "front range" of the Sears Tower and nearby skyscrapers gracefully in the background.

Actually it would be awesome if somebody could render that into the current skyline assuming the dome is say 555 feet tall. The dome was supposed to be bigger than St. Peter's Basillica in Vatican City and the plaza bigger than St. Peter's square. With the other flanking neoclassical buildings it would be a very european looking space in the United States.

[Nowhereman1280]

^^^ No, I was referring to the dome. It has horrible proportions, but I said it tongue in cheek because I would accept it as a wonderful part of Chicago history if it would have been built. Also, I don't know why you talk about it making Chicago "more European" as if that's a good thing. The entire thing that sets Chicago apart is that it was the first city that completely threw out all previous models for city building probably since the founding of Rome. Chicago is great and unique because it was the first "Modern" city. I wouldn't want to ruin the specimen that is Chicago by trying to copy Europe.

Now capping the freeways is all good, as long as we don't try and fake it up by building Beaux Arts gardens or Boulevards on top of them all. Any parks built over freeways in Chicago should use the most cutting edge and contemporary landscape architecture possible in much the same way as Millennium park, except with a much lower density of focal points and a much higher amount of open space.

[Tom In Chicago]

You need to source those images. . . thanks. . .

[JDRCRASH]

Man that first picture looks like D.C.

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Man that first picture looks like D.C.

It does, you can almost imagine Chicago as the capital of the United States by looking at those pictures. The dome is supposed to be on Congress Parkway afterall, so if it was the US Capital it would mean the Congress is housed on Congress Parkway.

[Chicago103]

The more I think about it if the domed building were built today it would have to be 555+ feet tall to really have the presence that Burnham had envisioned at that location. That is massively tall for a domed building but just tall enough to have a presence in Chicago in 2010 at Halsted and Congress.

[Chicago103]

Interestingly enough there is a very interesting tapestry identical to the first picture in the lobby of 190 South LaSalle. The building opened and the tapestry was installed in this postmodern building in 1987. Assumung the dome were built today it would be built in the post-modern style (or perhaps something new like neo-Beux-Arts) and I also think the height could appropriatly match 190 South which is 573 feet tall which is also roughly the same height as the Chicago Temple or the Board of Trade. It would have to be that tall minimum I think to give the presence that Burnham envisioned.

[kool maudit]

on the final analysis, unfortunately, it is hideous and totalitarian.

[Chicago103]

The dome also has a slight resemblence to the Illinois State Capital in Springfield.

[Mr Downtown]

One of the things that has always puzzled me is the level of detail given to the civic center plan. Even though the document text says the renderings are merely "suggestions of what may be done," the ground level plan is so detailed it appears to include toilet room partitions. Part of this, I'm sure, is the Beaux-Arts training of Bennett and others, so that an elevation could not be developed without completely understanding the plan. But it's hard to avoid the thought that, perhaps in the final months of work on the Plan text, the draftsmen had too much time on their hands and needed to be kept busy.



Plate 129 from The Plan of Chicago

[Chicago103]

Thank you very much Mr. Downtown. That is the best quality picture I have ever seen of the Civic Center plan even better than anything I have seen in a book.

It is very detailed indeed, almost to the point that if there ever was a desire to actually build it you wouldnt have to spend much more money on design since it has already been done.

The area that picture depicts is quite large spanning roughly from Des Plaines to Morgan from east to west and from Jackson to Vernon Park (700 South) from north to south. The center of the rotunda of the dome is where Congress (Eisenhower Expressway) and Peoria Streets would meet or in other words right on top of the UIC/Halsted blue line stop Peoria street entrance. Some UIC buildings would have to be demolished to build this.

Is there anyone good at scaling that can determine what the dimensions of these buildings would be? Perhaps by comparing the ground plan with the other pictures of the dome can guess its height as well? The capital like building would have to be the largest domed building of its type in the world even today, it would dwarf the US capital, any state capital or city hall in the country.

[Mr Downtown]

I wish you'd asked last fall when the original drawings, including actual elevations, were on display at the Art Institute. Based on scaling Janin's elevation rendering, I get a base approximately 650 feet across, and a total height of roughly 830 feet.

At the time, and ever since, this was regarded as somewhere between megalomaniacal and just silly. The problem, I think, was that Burnham was so focused on the size of the plaza in plan. So when it came time to actually draw a centerpiece building, Bennett and Janin kept having to go higher and higher and higher so it would be in proportion to the plaza. They end up with a building of Brobdingnagian scale, with goofy things like the columns around the drum being 150 feet tall.

[MolsonExport]

Reminds me of Speer's plans for Berlin:


AlbertSpeerimages

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

I wish you'd asked last fall when the original drawings, including actual elevations, were on display at the Art Institute. Based on scaling Janin's elevation rendering, I get a base approximately 650 feet across, and a total height of roughly 830 feet.

At the time, and ever since, this was regarded as somewhere between megalomaniacal and just silly. The problem, I think, was that Burnham was so focused on the size of the plaza in plan. So when it came time to actually draw a centerpiece building, Bennett and Janin kept having to go higher and higher and higher so it would be in proportion to the plaza. They end up with a building of Brobdingnagian scale, with goofy things like the columns around the drum being 150 feet tall.

I did go to the Art Institute to see some of the drawings and maps last year but I dont think I saw every rotation of work they had out. I am aware of the elevations but are you saying that these elevations actually had height measurements posted on them?!

I estimated a height of 550-600 feet tall but I still felt it might be even taller. The height that you estimated of 830 feet for a domed building is just insane, the interior rotunda would be so high that it would cause condensation inside. It would be awesome to build something that big. In 2010 Chicago with the Sears Tower somewhat near in the background and because of other supertalls it would need to be that tall to stand out, a gargantuan dome for a gargantuan skyline.

[Metranite]

Burnham was a nutcase and his plan was completely unappealing.

[Remy_Bork]

If that dome were any taller it would be a cone!

As an alternative to capping expressways, maybe some day public transit will be at such a level that the Eisenhower could be turned into a boulevard as originally shown in the plan. That seems on a similar level of far-fetched-ness.

[HomrQT]

Awww, I don't know what the negativity is for. I think the building looks nice and would have added more class to this city.

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by HomrQT

Awww, I don't know what the negativity is for. I think the building looks nice and would have added more class to this city.

I agree, I am somehow attracted to it. Whenever I get off at the UIC Halsted stop on the blue line I like to think what it would be like if the stop was beneath a giant rotunda. An observatory at the top of the cupola of this thing would have an awesome view of downtown and the westward expanse of the city, kind of like the view from UIC's University Hall only higher and better.