One North LaSalle Building - Chicago, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 52.920 W 087° 37.938
16T E 447537 N 4636868
Standing squarely in Chicago’s financial district helping to define that famous business corridor, this is a no-nonsense building designed to create profit for its owners, provide its tenants with functional space and impress the public at large.
Waymark Code: WM8CFZ
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 03/11/2010
Views: 3
From the Chicago landmarks site: (
visit link)
"A premier example of the soaring, streamlined skyscrapers built during the 1920s, this is also one of the city's best surviving examples of the Art Deco style, with its dramatic silhouette and lavishly detailed entrance and lobby. The building is a major contributor to LaSalle Street's reputation as one of the city's premier architectural corridors. It is one of the best surviving examples of the work of architects Vitzhum and Burns, who were known for their design of banks and churches. And, for 35 years, the 49-story building was the city's tallest structure, a title it relinquished to the Daley Civic Center in 1965."
Circling the building at the fifth floor are 17 relief panels sculpted by Leon Hermant, depicting America's most famous explorers, LaSalle, Marquette, Columbus, Clark and Joliet, as well as Indian Chiefs, Justice and Atlas.
Paraphrased from “The American Skyscraper,” 1850 – 1940: A celebration of height, by Joseph Korom
"It rises effortlessly to meet the sky while employing telescoping segments. One North LaSalle Street was the product of architects Karl Vitzhum and John Burns. It rises 49 stories and cost $7 million, truly sobering for 1930.
The public lobby just inside the LaSalle Street entrance is an Art Deco jewel box. Dark marble walls and ceilings are covered with angular patterns, chevrons, female nudes and foliate patterns. Polished brass elevator doors, featuring low relief semi-nude females in the form of Greek goddesses, silently glide from closed to open and back again. Shiny metal and frosted glass wall sconces emerge bird-like from the wall planes. This is not just any lobby, this space is a superbly orchestrated and totally engaging experience."
More on the lobby from ChiefEngineer.org (
visit link)
"Stylish green-black marble walls accented by shiny cast bronze elevator doors feature full-figured female figures symbolizing Success and Reputation, the hallmark of the LaSalle Street corridor. Intricate peacock light bracket lamps, four feet high and strategically hung four feet above the floor, provide intimate lighting through the green glass in the peacock's tail. By focusing this light on the walls and ceiling, the interior beauty of the building is showcased."
Click the Nearest Waymarks button for other waymarks of this site.