860–880 Lake Shore Drive

The buildings are located at 860 and 880 North Lake Shore Drive, The complex spans , and has a frontage of on Delaware Place to the north, on Lake Shore Drive to the east, and on Chestnut Street to the south. It faces Lake Michigan immediately to the east. The buildings are slightly north of the Chicago Loop and east of Michigan Avenue. The apartment towers at 900–910 North Lake Shore are immediately to the north. Prior to the buildings' completion, the site had been occupied by a mansion belonging to Edith Rockefeller McCormick. By 1949 (just before the site was developed), the McCormick family's McCormick Management Corporation owned the northern half of the site, while Northwestern University had obtained the southern half in 1944 from Robert R. McCormick. == Architecture ==

The towers at 860–880 Lake Shore Drive were designed by the modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the developer Herbert Greenwald. Holsman, Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor were the consulting architects, and Pace Associates were the associated architects. In addition, Frank J. Kornacher was the engineer, Both towers are 26 stories high, with a height of , and are designed in the International Style. They are the first high-rise buildings Mies designed. 860–880 Lake Shore Drive were part of a trend of glassy skyscrapers in major American cities, other examples of which included the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York City. The writer Franz Schulze described earlier International-style designs, such as the PSFS Building in Philadelphia and 330 West 42nd Street in New York, as "precedents" to the Lake Shore Drive towers' design. Mies, who had a reputation as a minimalist architect, adhered to the principle "less is more", as demonstrated in his self-proclaimed "skin and bones" designs. In designing the buildings, he purposely disregarded the effects of sunlight exposure and wind gusts. The towers' identical appearance, vertical mullions, and the use of a steel frame for articulation set them apart from other buildings of the time, even though none of the actual superstructures are visible on the buildings' facades. Their superstructures are constructed on a grid of square bays measuring on each side. The longer sides of each building are five bays wide, while the shorter sides are three bays wide. Unlike older apartment buildings on Lake Shore Drive, which tended to be perpendicular to that street, 860–880 Lake Shore Drive was built perpendicularly to the side streets and the Chicago street grid. The offset positioning maximizes the number of apartments that oversee the lake. Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune wrote that, from above, the positioning of the towers made it seem like they were "sliding past each other". The glass walls are backlit from inside during the nighttime, giving the impression that each tower was floating. Although Mies's decision to use opaque windows has been cited as a practical way to conceal the mechanical equipment, they also highlighted the superstructure's columns at night. Specially made lenses are placed over the lamps to distribute the light evenly over the facades. Just above ground level, a steel canopy runs above a walkway connecting the south tower's northern facade and the north tower's southern facade. The windows are separated vertically by mullion bars and horizontally by spandrel panels between different floors; the aluminum mullions run nearly the buildings' entire height. On each floor, each bay has a opening. There are four window panes per opening, The buildings have a combined 3,232 panes with of glass. corresponding to one-fourth the width of the bays inside. Each of the I-beams is about thick, Architectural writers criticized the I-beams when the buildings were constructed, since the material was being used for purely decorative purposes, and since the use of decorative design details ostensibly contravened Mies's longstanding tendency not to use materials unless absolutely necessary. The I-beams also broke up the otherwise-flat facades, All exterior steel was coated in black enamel paint, without any other surface finish. The designs of 860–880 Lake Shore Drive's superstructures and facades are closely correlated, in contrast to Mies's later designs where the facade had little, if anything, to do with the superstructure. Each bay is divided by concrete-encased columns at the buildings' perimeters. In both buildings, the columns at each corner are covered with steel plates on two sides. 860–880 Lake Shore Drive is Mies's only design where the curtain wall is flush with the exterior columns; in all of his other designs, the curtain wall is either hung outside or was recessed into the superstructure. The facades lack other traditional design details such as cornices, Interior When the towers were built, exposed steel superstructures above a building's first story were banned under Chicago's building codes, preventing Mies from exposing the buildings' steel frames on the upper floors. The beams are all welded together. or 116 parking spots. Barcelona chairs are installed in the lobby of either tower. The core of each building is used for circulation and includes elevators, hallways, and stairs. Apartments Each of the upper stories measures high, but 40 of the small units were combined to make 20 large units, for a total of 116 large apartments and 152 small apartments. All of the south tower's apartments and half of the north tower's apartments had windows on two sides. Mies had originally proposed arranging the apartments in an open plan, After his open-plan floor layouts were rejected, Mies almost quit the project entirely. Mies also wanted to add a service entrance to each apartment, but this was discarded from the final plan. and many of the units have since been combined. Similarly to Mies's earlier Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois, bedrooms and other living spaces are positioned around the kitchens and bathrooms in the core. The units also have radiant heating systems, Mies's original plans for a central air system, which would have cooled the apartments, were canceled due to its expense. Mies wanted each floor to look exactly the same from the outside, so the same gray color was used for all of the curtains directly behind each window. Behind each curtain is a rail where occupants could install a curtain of their own design. Though the finishes, kitchens, and bedrooms in some apartments have since been modified, much of Mies's original design remains intact. == History ==

In 1946, Greenwald became acquainted with Mies, who then was developing Farnsworth House. Though Greenwald was thirty years younger than Mies, they remained frequent collaborators until Greenwald died in 1959. Additionally, the 1933 Century of Progress world's fair had spurred the construction of modern architecture in Chicago, and architects such as Mies and Loebl Schlossman & Hackl had been inspired to build modernist structures there. The first building Greenwald hired Mies to design was the Promontory Apartments on South Lake Shore Drive, completed in 1949. Due to World War II-era steel shortages, that building had a reinforced concrete facade, rather than the steel-and-glass facade Mies had wanted. as early as 1920, he had been drawing up designs for towers with steel skeletons. still owned a parcel to the west. There would be 92 six-room apartments, 192 three-and-a-half-room apartments, and 25 studio apartments, along with 100 parking spaces. The buildings were to be financed with a $3.1 million mortgage loan, which would be paid off over twenty years and split between the tenants. In July 1949, the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company agreed to lend $3.1 million. Mies's employee Joseph Fujikawa worked with Holsman, Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor to create blueprints for the towers, and Charles B. Genther of Pace Associates spent three months creating working drawings and soliciting bids from prospective construction contractors. The American Bridge Company received the contract for the buildings' steelwork, while Greenwald's company Metropolitan Structures Inc. was the general contractor. To provide seating for the lobbies, Mies asked one of his acolytes to consult photographs of Barcelona chairs (which Mies had designed for the Barcelona Pavilion two decades prior) and draw up modern plans. Work on the south tower was delayed after workers discovered a derelict water tunnel below the ground, which had served the Near North Side of Chicago until around 1890. Five of the south tower's footings had to be relocated as a result. Although the north tower's superstructure had reached the 14th story by July 1950, the south tower's foundation was still being constructed. By then, 72% of the units had been sold for between $13,500 and $27,000 each. In part because of Chicago's postwar housing shortage, Robert Picking, a local architect, was the first resident to formally move in. Early tenants represented a wide range of professions, including businesspeople, doctors, and lawyers; the towers also housed dozens of architects, as did the later development at 900–910 Lake Shore Drive Many residents moved to 860–880 Lake Shore Drive because of the shorefront location and because of the views out the full-height windows. Mies owned an apartment on the 21st floor but did not live there, though he did bring students there for occasional tours. The buildings' initial lack of air conditioning After more tenants with pets moved into the towers, the buildings' trustees banned pets in 1954. The trustees attempted to evict several pet owners in 1957, and they also filed lawsuits against tenants, with mixed results. The buildings remained well-known in the 1970s, even though they were no longer referred to as "the glass houses". 1990s to present Between 1990 and 1992, the leaking windows were resealed for $1.5 million, and the facades restored. By then, nineteen of the original tenants remained, and there were 20 architects living across both buildings. The towers contained a total of 248 apartments, as some of the original apartments had been combined; the south tower had 90 units, while the north tower had 158 units. Due to water damage and exterior deterioration over the years, the buildings were restored starting in 2007. They were directed to fix prior renovations that had undermined the historical appearance of the towers, restore the lighting scheme, and renovate the plaza. The renovation was completed in December 2009; the cost is variously cited as being between $8 million and $9.2 million. == Impact ==

Reception Contemporary |alt=Overhead view of 880 North Lake Shore Drive as seen from 875 North Michigan Avenue When the buildings were constructed, they were controversial because their style was so different from previous skyscrapers. while a writer for The New York Times said that the buildings were "a lovely laboratory concept" that nonetheless were bound to annoy some observers. Architectural Forum magazine said in 1955 that, while 860–880 Lake Shore Drive was successful, it had inspired several derivatives of markedly lower quality. The next year, a member of a panel for Architectural Record magazine wrote that the complex "is perfect in its proportions, serene in its stand". When Life magazine took pictures of the towers in 1957, they were captioned as "animated and inanimate, revealing yet restrained", as perceived from Lake Michigan. Retrospective When Mies died in 1969, The New York Times wrote that Mies had considered 860–880 Lake Shore Drive his fourth-favorite design, after Crown Hall, the Chicago Federal Center, and the Seagram Building, In 1986, a writer for Artforum magazine said the towers and the Farnsworth House were "uncompromised realizations of Mies's rigorous ethic". The critic Herbert Muschamp, writing in 1993, regarded the structures as "endlessly complex, acutely sensitive to context" and said that their design embraced the proximity of Lake Michigan. Also in the late 20th century, the photographer Walter Peterhans and the historian Julius Posener both compared the buildings' I-beams to Gothic structures' architectural details (such as buttresses), which in some cases were purely decorative. Other observers praised the towers' timeless appearance. Writing about the buildings' architectural impact, Mies's biographer David A. Spaeth said in 1985 that the buildings had "established a new standard of excellence for the apartment building", as they were among the first entirely steel-and-glass apartment buildings worldwide. Commentators in the 1980s mocked Mies's "less is more" principle, describing the buildings as having a "less-is-a-bore" design, Werner Blaser stated in 1999 that the building "opposes Louis Sullivan|[Louis] Sullivan's famous axiom 'form follows function' with the term 'structure'", in that the buildings' superstructures did not at all indicate their interior uses. Landmark designations The building was one of the first official landmarks designated in 1958 by the then-new Commission on Chicago Architectural Landmarks, as well as one of the youngest landmarks so designated. Each building's lobby includes a metallic plaque in honor of this designation, which was dedicated in February 1960. After the original landmark commission was repealed, the modern Commission on Chicago Landmarks had considered designating the buildings as Chicago Landmarks starting in 1969, but this was postponed twice due to opposition. In a survey in 1980, the majority of residents opposed landmark designation, as they did not want a governmental agency to control future modifications to the buildings. Even though Chicago Landmark designations could be made without the owners' agreement, the alderman representing the area, Burton Natarus, had recommended that the commission not vote on the landmark designation unless the building's residents supported it. The city landmark designation was stalled until 1996, when city aldermen rescinded temporary protections from pending landmarks, which had prevented their demolition until their landmark nomination was decided. The aldermen wished to resolve a legal uncertainty in which the landmark decision (and thus the removal of protections) could occur at any time. After Natarus and other aldermen voted in favor of the designation, 860–880 Lake Shore Drive received Chicago Landmark status on June 10, 1996, which prevented modifications without the commission's approval. A square plaque honoring this designation is on a railing near number 860, the south tower. The towers were the first Mies buildings to be designated as Chicago Landmarks, The towers were also added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1980. After the buildings were completed, architectural students from around the world came to visit the structures. In subsequent years, the buildings were detailed in many modern-architecture books. Pictures of the towers were also shown at an architecture exhibit at the Sears Tower in the mid-1990s, which featured nine other Chicago buildings. The towers were showcased in Phyllis Lambert's traveling exhibit Mies in America in the early 2000s, and the Art Institute of Chicago also hosted material about them in a 2005 exhibit about post–World War II Chicago architecture. The buildings received the Twenty-five Year Award from the AIA in 1976, in honor of the longevity of their design. In a poll of American architecture experts the same year, at least one expert ranked 860–880 Lake Shore Drive among the best structures in the United States. In June 2005, the United States Postal Service included the towers in the commemorative stamp program Masterworks of Modern Architecture, where they were listed as one of the "12 outstanding examples of modern buildings". In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, 860–880 Lake Shore Drive was selected as one of Illinois's 200 Great Places by the AIA's Illinois chapter, AIA Illinois. Architectural influence When the towers at 860–880 Lake Shore Drive were completed, they contrasted with the masonry apartment buildings that dominated Chicago at the time, and few buildings anywhere had a similar design. Examples of such towers included the Lever House and Seagram Building in New York, Phyllis Lambert, whose father Samuel Bronfman's company had commissioned the Seagram Building, said that she had recommended that Mies design that building after seeing 860–880 Lake Shore Drive. Similar designs became commonplace internationally, The Chicago Tribune wrote in 1964 that 860–880 Lake Shore Drive, along with buildings such as Marina City, were examples of a new school of Chicago architecture. Another writer for the periodical Universitas wrote that it "does not seem possible" to create a steel-and-glass building with a simpler design than 860–880 Lake Shore Drive or the Seagram Building. Paul Gapp of the Chicago Tribune wrote in 1981 that 860–880 Lake Shore Drive was among the "internationally famed classics" designed by Mies in Chicago, and Gapp later wrote that the towers had helped make Mies "the 20th Century's single most influential architect". The historian Carl W. Condit wrote that the buildings had influenced modernist architecture in a similar manner to how the Empire State Building and the Woolworth Building had influenced earlier architectural styles. that complex also has a black-painted aluminum facade, referencing the materials used at number 860–880. The design of number 860–880's facade was replicated in other skyscrapers that Mies designed during the rest of his career. which was inspired by the interior design of 860–880 Lake Shore Drive. Luxus Magazine wrote that the towers' structural grid and facade became "the model for postwar modernist buildings". == See also ==