PEOPLE'S GAS BUILDING. In Context

The People's Gas Building was meant to be the "Big Boy on the Block." From this photo it looks like "mission accomplished." The loggia, which looks somewhat arbitrary on today's skyline, literally overlooked the City in 1910. Corporate offices in the upper stories would have been spectacular. (Except for the smoke) And the cornice certainly befits a utility company with aspirations to be the largest in the world. People's only competition for prominence on the street was the Railway Exchange, and the half-completed McCormick Building.
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We all talk about the change of scale we're facing today with the "supertalls". In the early 1900's Chicago went through a similar transition. The Ward Tower (a little to the north) looks almost delicate. And Sullivan's Auditorium (to the south) which was the tallest building in Chicago and the largest in the country is dwarfed. .
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I have always felt that this Building has been somehow substantially diminished. I attributed it to difficult repairs and renovations. (More on this to follow) But looking at the full impact of this structure in its original context, I realize that I entirely misjudged what I was seeing. People's Gas was the biggest and best that 1910 Chicago had to offer. And the resources were significant.

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Credits to PatSabin.com and that incredible postcard collection. And wikepedia.