The Auditorium Building: A Building Book from the Chicago Architecture Foundation, No. A687

Pridmore, Jay; Blessing, Hedrich; Chicago Architecture Foundation

ISBN 10: 0764924966 / ISBN 13: 9780764924965

Published by Pomegranate, 2003

About this Item

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing.

Seller Inventory # BSM.119OS

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Auditorium Building: A Building Book from the Chicago Architecture Foundation, No. A687
• Publisher: Pomegranate
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0764924966
• ISBN 13: 9780764924965
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Commissioned by Ferdinand Peck and produced by architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler--soon to be leaders of the Chicago School--in 1889, the Auditorium Building was a wondrous complex, housing a hotel, offices, stores, and a theater. Adler's engineering skills overcame the problem of a foundation that had to support an unevenly distributed weight; Sullivan designed the stunning theater, which was spanned by four elliptical arches studded with 3,500 incandescent electric lights and decorated with gold leaf. Adler created a hydraulic stage--with twenty-six lifts--and one of the first air-conditioning systems in a public building.

Among the many design features in the interior of the Auditorium were murals, onyx, marble, open loggias, stained glass, filigreed vents, wainscoting, and bronze-plated posts. Scholars considered the Auditorium Building the most important single structure in Chicago.