Distant frontal view, from east on Congress Drive, depicting relationship with Congress Hotel to the south (left, by Holabird & Roche, built to match the Auditorium in 1893)
Image_Title
Distant frontal view, from east on Congress Drive, depicting relationship with Congress Hotel to the south (left, by Holabird & Roche, built to match the Auditorium in 1893)
Image View
Creator:
Adler and Sullivan (American architectural firm, 1883-1924)
Agent_Display
Adler and Sullivan (American architectural firm, 1883-1924)
Creator
Location:
site: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Work_Location_Type_D isplay
site: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Location
Date:
1866-1889 (creation)
Work_DateDisplay
1866-1889 (creation)
Date
Cultural Context:
American
Work_Culture
American
Cultural Context
Style Period:
Chicago School; Richardsonian Romanesque; Romanesque Revival
Work_StylePeriodDisp lay
Chicago School; Richardsonian Romanesque; Romanesque Revival
Style Period
Work Type 1:
auditorium
Work_Worktype1
auditorium
Work Type 1
Work Type 2:
mixed-use development
Work_Worktype2
mixed-use development
Work Type 2
Classification:
architecture
Work_Classification
architecture
Classification
Material:
stone; iron
Work_MaterialDisplay
stone; iron
Material
Technique:
construction (assembling)
Work_Technique
construction (assembling)
Technique
Subjects:
architectural exteriors
Work_Image_SubjectDi splay
architectural exteriors
Subjects
Description:
The Auditorium was built for a syndicate of businessmen to house a large civic opera house; to provide an economic base it was decided to wrap the auditorium with a hotel and office block. Hence Adler & Sullivan had to plan a complex multiple-use building. Fronting on Michigan Avenue, overlooking the lake, was the hotel (now Roosevelt University) while the offices were placed to the west on Wabash Avenue. The entrance to the auditorium is on the south side beneath the tall blocky seventeen-story tower. The rest of the building is a uniform ten stories, organized in the same way as Richardson's Marshall Field Wholesale Store. The interior embellishment, however, is wholly Sullivan's, and some of the details, because of their continuous curvilinear foliate motifs, are among the nearest equivalents to European Art Nouveau architecture. (p 179-180) (Source: Roth, Leland M.; A Concise History of American Architecture, 1st ed., New York : Harper & Row, c1979 (0064300862 (pbk.) ))
Work_Description_Sou rce
The Auditorium was built for a syndicate of businessmen to house a large civic opera house; to provide an economic base it was decided to wrap the auditorium with a hotel and office block. Hence Adler & Sullivan had to plan a complex multiple-use building. Fronting on Michigan Avenue, overlooking the lake, was the hotel (now Roosevelt University) while the offices were placed to the west on Wabash Avenue. The entrance to the auditorium is on the south side beneath the tall blocky seventeen-story tower. The rest of the building is a uniform ten stories, organized in the same way as Richardson's Marshall Field Wholesale Store. The interior embellishment, however, is wholly Sullivan's, and some of the details, because of their continuous curvilinear foliate motifs, are among the nearest equivalents to European Art Nouveau architecture. (p 179-180) (Source: Roth, Leland M.; A Concise History of American Architecture, 1st ed., New York : Harper & Row, c1979 (0064300862 (pbk.) ))
