Tribune Tower
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Architect: John Mead Howells and Raymond M. Hood
Year Completed: 1925
Location: 435 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois
Style: Gothic Revival
In 1922, the Chicago Tribune held a competition for a new skyscraper to celebrate their seventy-fifth anniversary. They received 264 entries from 23 countries and this was Howells and Hood's winning design.
The first picture above was taken from the south side of the river and shows the tower's prominent location on North Michigan Avenue. The building is thirty-six stories high. At the base, it is rectangular, but becomes square at the twenty-first floor. From the twenty-sixth floor up, it is octagonal with flying buttresses similar to the thirteenth-century Butter Tower of the Rouen Cathedral. These buttresses are for decorative purposes only, and do not serve as any support for the structure.
I was fortunate to go on a tour of this building in November of 2000. The last two pictures above were taken from the top of the building. The second to last picture is a view of the tower and buttresses looking up. The last picture is one of the grotesques that is carved into the flying buttresses. The view from the top of the buliding was wonderful, but I was not able to spend as much time as I would have liked up there.
The building's steel frame is covered with Indiana limestone which has been carved with Gothic themes. The third picture above shows the building's three-story entrance. The elaborate carvings around the entrance represent Aesop's fables and include a howling dog and Robin Hood figures. Interestingly, these two symbols are representative of the two architect's names. Incorporated into the building are pieces from many famous buildings from around the world. These pieces are visible around the base of the building. In the fifth picture, you can see some protruding famous stones.
The second picture was taken from the rear of the building. The Tribune Tower was restored in 1991.