Monadnock Building
Quick Summary
The Monadnock Building, located in Chicago, Illinois, is a significant example of the Chicago School of architecture. Designed by the firm of Burnham and Root, its north half, completed in 1891, is notable for being the world's tallest office building constructed with load-bearing walls. This design choice, emphasizing formal simplicity and ornamental restraint, was a departure from earlier skyscraper aesthetics. The building's construction, particularly its foundation and fireproofing techniques, represented important technical innovations for its time. The Monadnock Building is considered a key work in the development of the modern skyscraper and a representative example of the Chicago School's influence on architecture.123
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Daniel BurnhamBurnham & Root… (completed 1890, demolished 1911), the Monadnock Building (completed 1891), and the Masonic Temple (completed 1892). Finished a year after William Le Baron Jenney’s Home Insurance Building (completed 1885), which was the first building to use structural steel members for partial support, the Rookery used both a masonry load-bearing wall and…
Read More… (completed 1890, demolished 1911), the Monadnock Building (completed 1891), and the Masonic Temple (completed 1892). Finished a year after William Le Baron Jenney’s Home Insurance Building (completed 1885), which was the first building to use structural steel members for partial support, the Rookery used both a masonry load-bearing wall and…
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John Wellborn RootThe north half of the Monadnock Building (1889–91), 16 stories high, is generally regarded as the world’s tallest office building with load-bearing walls. (The south half, designed by the firm of Holabird and Roche and completed in 1893, has an interior frame, or skeleton, of steel.) Root’s exterior design of…
Read MoreThe north half of the Monadnock Building (1889–91), 16 stories high, is generally regarded as the world’s tallest office building with load-bearing walls. (The south half, designed by the firm of Holabird and Roche and completed in 1893, has an interior frame, or skeleton, of steel.) Root’s exterior design of…
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Western architectureConstruction in iron and glass…store) and Burnham and Root’s Monadnock Building (1891), both in Chicago, went beyond the Wainwright Building and were the first modern commercial buildings to demonstrate in their designs formal simplicity and ornamental abstinence, resulting from a new form of harmony between the demands of artistic expression, function, and technology.
Read More…store) and Burnham and Root’s Monadnock Building (1891), both in Chicago, went beyond the Wainwright Building and were the first modern commercial buildings to demonstrate in their designs formal simplicity and ornamental abstinence, resulting from a new form of harmony between the demands of artistic expression, function, and technology.
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