The Auditorium Building (Building Book s.) (Pomegranate Catalog, No. A687) (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of The Auditorium Building (Building Book s.) (Pomegranate Catalog, No. A687) Tuesday, August 4 2009.

• 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.

Shelfari edited the contributors of The Auditorium Building (Building Book s.) (Pomegranate Catalog, No. A687) Tuesday, August 4 2009.

• Added a contributor: Jay Pridmore: (Primary Author)

Shelfari edited the first sentence of The Auditorium Building (Building Book s.) (Pomegranate Catalog, No. A687) Friday, July 17 2009.

• In a city that has grown large and complex, it is hard to imagine Chicago's excitement the evening of December 9, 1889, when the Auditorium Building was dedicated.