DANIEL BURNHAM. The Conway Building. Rotunda

In 1986, Jack Train Associates scooped the insides out of Daniel Burnham's Conway Building, demolished the rotunda skylight, and skinned the terra cotta columns in marble. Coffered gypsum ceilings and indirect lighting replaced structure and glass. Brass wall sconces added a touch of contemporary grace. I remember a meeting in the building soon after its renovation. In the Commercial Division of Arthur Rubloff. At the time I specialized in Strip Centers. And I promise you, we all thought that the newly renamed "Burnham Center" was the "cat's meow." "QUITE Up to the Minute."  And it was. Is. Up to that minute. Noon. June 20. 1986.

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The Conway holds some mystery. Fred Dinkelberg is credited with the 1912 design even though Peirce Anderson had become Daniel Burnham's senior designer in eaarly 1908. I wouldn't imagine Anderson handing off an important client like Marshall Field to Dinkelberg without good reason. Swagged columns, shields and lions on the Conway's facade weren't typically in Dinkelberg's design vocabulary. Octaganal columns and capitals, square piers, and what appears to be non-classical ornament on the original terra cotta, on the other hand, would not have been expected from Anderson. The round corners, complicated geometries of ornament, horizonal emphasis of window openings and the experimentation with the cornice suggest that something interesting was "going on" in the offices of D.H. Burnham. We traded that for the aesthetics of 1986.

Intellectually, I fully support adaptive re-use. But from the gut, I have to hate it. It seems that an aesthetic valued at a point in time should be shown continued respect. Just as our work, a hundred years from now, might also be found of value. It would not be so difficult for us to adapt. Just a little.

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Luckily, the Conway's alley concourse survives. Ca 1933.

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PEOPLE'S GAS. The View from the Bridge

In 1917, Peirce Anderson listed what he considered to be the principal examples of his work. They included the Equitable Building in New York; Union Station, the Post Office and the Columbus Memorial in Washington DC; the Plan of Manila; and in Chicago, Union Station, the Continental and Commercial Bank, and the 1910 PEOPLE'S GAS LIGHT AND COKE COMPANY at the southwest corner of Michigan Avenue and Adams. (If that were ME talking I'd include Marshall Field and Company and the Field Museum, too. But, Peirce was known for his modesty.) The earlier buildings were completed with D.H. Burnham and Company. The later buildings, with Graham Anderson Probst and White.

One of the best views of People's Gas is from the Nichols Bridge, near the entrance to the Art Institute's third floor dining room (on top or their new addition, behind the main building). The Bridge allows a spectacular view of the Michigan Avenue Wall, and in particular, the People Gas Light and Coke Building. (See the view below.)

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1908/1909 would have been pretty exciting times in Daniel Burnham's office. Ed Bennett and Daniel were completing the Plan of Chicago. Peirce Anderson and Daniel we preparing designs for the People's Gas Building, and wrapping up the plaza improvements for Union Station in Washington. Burnham's office at that time was in the Railway Exchange Building, overlooking Grant Park. Those lean years of the mid nineties were all but forgotten.

MARSHALL FIELD 1907

The phased construction undertaken by Marshall Field & Company between 1902 and 1907 was both enormous and consistent. The State Street Facade and the grand first floor Arcade are almost seamless. Two large, stacked interior spaces, built in 1907, The Walnut Room and a 6 story space topped with a Tiffany favrile mosaic, perfectly balance the 13 story skylit atrium near Randolph Street built in 1902. Who can say which space is most loved? Below is the Walnut Room, whose Circassian paneling and Austrian chandeliers overcome extensive modifications through the years - including ductwork for an unforeseen invention - air conditioning.

Above: A view of the Walnut Room from the 8th floor.

Below: A view to the Walnut Room fountain. This space was "practice" for Peirce Anderson, who went on to give us more fine public spaces. The Field Museum and Union Station are among many to his credit.

How does architecture become an icon?

MARSHALL FIELD COLUMNS!

The Columns flanking Marshall Field & Company's State Street Entrance are 50 foot tall granite monoliths rivalled in size only by the columns at Egypt's Temple of Karnak. Daniel Burnham made no little plans.

Peirce Anderson left the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1899 with a thoroughly classical education. After a year's travel in Europe he joined D. H. Burnham. He chose Ionic columns for the State Street Entrance, the top floor Loggia, and the North Atrium, and Corinthian Columns for the Grand Arcade that connects Randolph Street to State Street. The "Ecole" would soon make itself felt throughout the Loop.

Above: A column base at the Entry monoliths.

Above: An Ionic capital at the top floor Loggia.

Above: An Ionic capital at the North Atrium

Above: The Corinthian Columns of the Grand Arcade.

Marshall Field died in 1906. Although he lived to see the State Street Entrance and the North Atrium, he never saw the completed State Street South section which includes the Walnut Room and the Tiffany Dome.

MARSHALL FIELD

Marshall Field & Company wasn't built in a day. The first construction on the block bounded by State, Randolph, Wabash, and Washington was begun in 1892. The final segment, at the southwest corner of Wabash and Randolph was constructed in 1914. Above is the North Atrium, located near the corner of State and Randolph, constructed in 1902. The North Atrium anchors the Grand Arcade that parallels State Street and displays 13 floors of retail sales area This mastery of vertical and horizontal space is also evident at Chicago's Field Museum and Union Station, later projects also designed by Peirce Anderson.

Happy Birthday, Dear Andy. Happy Birthday to..

Peirce Anderson was born on Februrary 20, 1870 in Oswego, New York and died in Chicago in his Hyde Park Home on February 10, 1924. (See ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING OF GRAHAM, ANDERSON, PROBST AND WHITE, 1912-1936, pp 273-276, by Sally A. Kitt Chappell for a brief sketch of his life. ) The iconic clocks at Marshall Field & Company, pictured above, are by his hand.

Marshall Field & Company 1892 ----------------------

This cast iron newell post is located on the first floor of Marshall Field & Company near the corner of Wabash and Washington. It is in the old Renaissance-style"South Building" designed by Charles Atwood while employed at the architectural firm of D.H. Burnham in 1892. Atwood stayed with Burnham until 1895. Peirce Anderson, also working with Burnham, later redefined the project and completed the designs over a twelve year period creating a Chicago icon that has outlasted the company who commissioned him.