Carbide & Carbon Building
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Architect: Burnham Brothers
Year Completed: 1929
Location: 230 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
Style: Art Deco
Although the Carbide & Carbon Building might be considered a typical skyscraper of the Art Deco era, it's not typical of the Art Deco skyscrapers found in Chicago. Although this implies that the architects were from another city, the Burnham Brothers were the sons of Daniel H. Burnham, a prominent figure in Chicago history.
What makes the Carbide & Carbon Building unique are the colours that cover its exterior. Most of Chicago's Art Deco buildings use light grey Bedford limestone. The base of the Carbide & Carbon Building is covered in polished black granite while the tower is covered in a dark green terra cotta. The green is so dark that you would initially think the entire building is black. The tower is highlighted with gold terra cotta.
Another aspect of this building that is unique for Chicago are the fin-like designs incorporated into the top of the building. The dark-coloured exterior of this skyscraper resembles New York's skyscrapers of the same period. The Carbide & Carbon Building especially resembles Raymond M. Hood's 1923 American Radiator Building.
The entrance of the building includes black marble and intricate bronze metal work. Like most Art Deco buildings, the exterior designs, in this case floral, are continued in the interior.
Like many of the buildings of this time-period, the design incorporates the requirements of the 1923 zoning ordinance. Prior to this ordinance, skyscrapers in Chicago were limited in height (130 to 260 feet, depending on the time period). The 1923 zoning laws allowed skyscrapers to have a tower as long as the tower did not take up more than one quarter of the lot size.
In the fourth picture above, you can see scaffolding around the entrance to the building since the building was undergoing a long renovation at the time.