Transcript Document 7466658

Modernizing Modernism:
Challenges with
Preserving Post-War
Buildings
The Inland Steel Building
30 West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois
National Historic Tax Credit Conference
Chicago, Illinois
September 25, 2008
Inland Steel Building
• Completed in 1958 as corporate
headquarters for the Inland Steel
Company.
• Designed by Bruce Graham and
Walter Netsch of Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill.
• Unique design with external
columns and separate service
tower allowed completely
unobstructed floor plates.
Historic and Architectural Significance
• First modern glass skyscraper
constructed in Chicago Loop.
• First Chicago skyscraper designed
by SOM.
• First fully air-conditioned office
building in Chicago.
• First use of insulated glass units
in a Chicago skyscraper.
• Designated a Chicago Landmark
in 1998.
• Listing on the National Register
of Historic Places in process.
The Project
• The Inland Steel Building is being rehabilitated and repositioned as
an office building to compete in the 2008 marketplace.
• Project seeks 20% federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, thereby
requiring compliance with Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for
Rehabilitation.
• As a Chicago Landmark, changes to exterior and lobby are subject
to review and approval by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
• A challenge of rehabilitating the Inland Steel Building for the
current market is to preserve significant modern interior features
while accommodating the needs of a variety of tenants.
The Challenge: Preserve Modern Interior
Significant Interior Features
• Entry lobby and first floor
retail space.
• Unique lighting pattern on
second floor.
• Clear span office floors.
• Modular partition wall system.
Entry Lobby and First Floor Retail Space
• Retain Richard Lippold
sculpture “Radiant One” in
lobby.
• Restore original lighting
system.
• Reveal textured glass and
marble features.
• Restore elevator lobby
ceiling.
Entrance lobby with sculpture, looking east towards elevator lobby, circa 1958.
Current condition of ground floor
elevator lobby, showing non-original
lighting and Bubinga paneling.
Non-original Bubinga paneling
in entrance lobby.
Second Floor Lighting Pattern
• Second floor ceiling
originally featured grid of
square light boxes that
extended through the wall
plane to the exterior soffits.
• Light boxes were removed
from interior.
• Rehabilitation proposes to
restore original lighting
configuration.
1957 SOM Drawing of Second Floor Lighting Configuration.
Current condition of second floor
ceiling, showing non-original interior
lighting and original exterior lighting.
Clear Span Office Floors
• Separate service tower
allowed office spaces with
no interior obstructions.
• Remodeling by individual
tenants has obscured
original open floor plans
on most floors.
• Rehabilitation proposes to
remove non-original
partitions and reveal clear
span office spaces.
View of typical office floor, circa. 1957.
Examples of later tenant remodeling.
Proposed office interior.
Modular Wall Partition System
• Interior office spaces defined
by modular system of wall
partition panels manufactured
by E. F. Hauserman
Company.
• Panels designed to snap into
Celotex ceiling system for
easy office reconfiguration.
• Rehabilitation proposes to
retain Hauserman panels on
some floors and introduce
new modular system.
Offices with Hauserman panels, circa 1958.
Surviving Hauserman panels.
Hauserman textured glass panels with clear glass transoms.
Proposed new modular partition system.
Summary
• The Inland Steel Building is one of the defining commercial high-rises of
the Post-War era of modern architecture and a beloved Chicago Landmark.
• A challenge of rehabilitating the Inland Steel Building for the 2008 market
is to preserve significant modern interior features while accommodating the
needs of a variety of tenants.
• The project will retain the Richard Lippold sculpture in the lobby, restore
the original system of light panels on the first floor, and reveal obscured
marble and textured glass features.
• The distinctive lighting configuration on the second floor will be restored.
• Inappropriate partition walls will be removed from office floors to reveal
original clear span spaces.
• Hauserman wall panels will be retained on some floors, and a new modular
partition system will be installed on remaining office floors.
Allen F. Johnson
Director, Midwest Office
MacRostie Historic Advisors LLC
53 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 1357
Chicago, IL 60604
(312) 786-1700; [email protected]
macrostiehistoric.com