PEOPLE'S GAS BUILDING. Brass. Beautiful Brass.

Turn of the Century Burnham Buildings have much in common. In addition to the tripartite facade, the light well and the interior public space, each building had its Brass. People's Gas is no exception. Below is the Marquee.

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...could use a bit of polish. It is impossible to photograph an historic building that has been modified over time without some regrets. I would like to have photographed the light fixtures that lined the People's grand interior space. They may have been similar to the lamps at Union Station. See Post dated March 10 for some idea of the detail we might be missing.

PEOPLE'S GAS. Tripartite with a Twist

The People's Gas Building contains the typical facade elements of an early turn-of-the-century Chicago Skyscraper. A Bottom, a Middle and a Top define the Tripartite design. The level of detail, however, exceeds the Chicago norm. The street level colonnade is punctuated with bay windows and decorative panels (reminiscent of the Insurance Exchange...and the Rookery). The transition to the building's body is made with Lions and Light Fixtures (newfangled and electrified). Every inch of the "Middle" is covered with ornament. And the highly ornate loggia is topped with a cornice of even more Lions and Victory Garlands. But one thing is strikingly different. The cornices that typically divide the Middle element from the Loggia are omitted at the corners. This emphasizes both the building's height and stability, and contains the diverse design components within a single mass. (See August 31st post and photo.)

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All this seems a little over-the-top these days. But remember the construction date is 1910. This building is part and parcel of Daniel Burnham's vision of Chicago. It is a Beaux-Arts re-interpretation of Paris. Built right here. On South Michigan Avenue. It must have made quite a statement overlooking the railyards that bordered the Lakefront and Michigan Avenue for those so many years.

PEOPLE'S GAS. The Missing Eagle

When a man in his forties or early fifties proposes a course of action, the proposal is debated on its merits. It then succeeds or fails. For a man in his later sixties, actions are more difficult. He must first prove, simply, that he is not just some old fart. And if this "old guy's" proposed course of action is accepted, he must accept the fact, despite any victory, that he will be judged "remarkable" for the ability to stay "in touch." Later successes will be accompanied by "tough old bird."

In his eighties, though, and especially early nineties, a remarkable change begins to take place: accumulated longevity allows wisdom and perspective. "Old" ceases to be equated with the out-dated. And instead becomes an honorific. Age (that was so recently a problem) now allows a rare but informed view of a time other than our own, and a remarkably candid perception of the present. Should anyone care to listen.

So with Buildings.

At the age of 99, the People's Gas Light and Coke Building is no longer "old fart", nor "tough old bird." It has become an extant piece of Chicago whose continued presence is a glimpse of time and place. Daniel Burnham's time and place. It is a statement of the best turn-of-the-century technology available. And an aesthetic that gives us a material example with which to compare our own. In exchange, it only requires care.

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The Eagles were removed from the facade of People's Gas during some previous renovation. (Along with their purpose and story.) Only their claws remain on the spheres that supported them. Tough old fart claws that hung on during years when neither survival nor honor was quite so certain.

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.

THE INSURANCE EXCHANGE. Final Thoughts

Its easy to say you know something, or understand it. But I'm beginning to believe that unless you write it down, review it, revise it, go away and come back to it, you may really only think you know. This is my sixth post on the Insurance Exchange. And I can say, after researching it, photographing it, thinking about it, walking away from it, and coming back to write more, I do like this building more than I knew and will regret moving on. Finally I know why.


Interior Public Space. This building is tied to the street, the sidewalk and the City. This is no dead- ended, securitized system. The ground level spaces are a continuation of the urban environment.

"Green" Planning. What could be more "green" than a light well, windows that open, and high ceilings to take advantage of natural light and ventilation. And as for materials, regionally made masonry and Terra Cotta add additional "points"

Conceptually in Context. Remembering the whitewash village at Mykonos, the Bazaar at Kashan, the cliff dwellings at Canyon de Chelly and understanding that unity of style is as important as style itself, the arbitrary style imposed by turn of the century Beaux-Arts planning gave Chicago the visual contextual rules to build "unity." This building belongs in this place. It is a contribution to the City.

A Bottom. A Middle. A Top. Its always good to know which way is up. And each of these elements relates to similar elements in adjacent architecture. And to the reality of"gravity."

Historically Referenced. This building is anchored in time. It is clearly identifiable as a turn of the century skyscraper. Tripartite design. Light Well. Public Space. Classic details. And its whiteness recalls the White City. I am aware of my past and present with the building.

Quiet Complexity. Walking by the corner of Randolph and Wacker's new tower, for example, you've "got it" in a minute. With little more to learn. The Insurance Exchange reveals itself more slowly. Nuances of space, circulation and ornament add value and richness of "place." And although buildings with similar design concepts exist (Railway Exchange, People's Gas, the Conway), this one is unique.

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The last reason is not so easy. (Although there are theories.) Some people like Vanilla. And some people like Chocolate. Happily both flavors exist. And beyond logic or reason (although there is plenty of both) for me, the Insurance Exchange strikes the chord, rings the bell.

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Next: People's Gas Light and Coke.

THE INSURANCE EXCHANGE. Tripartite Design

Chicago Skyscrapers ranging from the Chicago School "Rookery" and the "Auditorium" to the to the Classic Sky-scrapers of the early teens and twenties were usually of Tripartite Design. Simply said, they had a bottom, a middle and a top. In the earliest buildings (load bearing) the "bottom" tended to heavy stone or masonry. Later (with steel frame) a building's base could be more delicate, and a colonnade was often employed. In both cases, the "Skyscraper" had a flat roof.

The Insurance Exchange is an example of later Tripartite Design, an elegant interpretation of Classicism designed by Peirce Anderson after he became Daniel Burnham's chief designer. .

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The Skyscraper's ''CAP" (above) consists of a Loggia and a Cornice. The 'SHAFT' (below) makes up the carefully simplified middle. The "BASE" (bottom) is defined by the delicate colonnade.

Tripartite design was largely abandoned with the Zoning Ordinance of 1924 and the nearly simultaneous application of Art Deco concepts to Skyscraper design. (Not, however, without a long and successful "run") There are some notable transitional exceptions where "Towers" sit on a tripartite base. The Pittsfield Building, The Straus Bank, and the Wrigley Building are all important Chicago landmarks.

Incidentally, Charles Beersman's design for the Insurance Exchange's south addition includes foundations for one of those "Towers." A change in the weather, just after 1929 derailed that plan.

DANIEL BURNHAM. Bad Times

In 1893, what would become the largest architectural firm in Chicago listed 5 (count'em - 5) completed commissions: A cafe, two houses, a park monument (base only) and a hotel that hadn't realized that the City had been shut down by Financial Panic. Add to this a rocky 1894. Then imagine that in 1895 it got worse. In that year D. H. Burnham and Company listed one completed project: The Schroeder House.

Who might have guessed during those years, that for Daniel Burnham, the best was still to come.

Commissions are listed Thomas Hines' "Burnham of Chicago," Appendix A