demo photos
fool's masonry
Demo photos showed a heavy wrap of masonry around the steel structure. Was this simply a design choice, or did Jenney add this to give Chicagoans more ease, making the structure look more "solid"?
matching masonry
Jenney was conscience of the material palettes of the surrounding buildings, placing masonry on the exterior of the building to match the existing aesthetics of Chicago.
stunning structure
Earl H. Reed examines the exterior column system which shows the casted brackets that support the cast iron lintels and the wrought iron interior girders.
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framing the facade
The granite first and second stories rested on the iron skeleton frame, located on the rear and court elevations.
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fabulous finishes
The Home Insurance Building was built as a secondary office for the Home Insurance Company based of out New York City. The company selected interior finishes with what was on trend in structures at the time. The vault shown in the image is the only masonry structure within the interior.
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inner workings
There were no masonry interior walls except on the
first floor. Interior columns were round are believed to have been filled with cement mortar to render them more fireproof.
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lintels to brackets
The horizontal cast iron lintels, cast iron rectangular columns, and cast-iron brackets. The horizontal wrought iron beams act as ties between the columns. This photo was taken after the wind bracing had been removed
demo deliberation
The Committee Appointed by the Trustees of the Estate of Marshall Field examines the corner column structure with the projecting flange cap, which in turn acted as a support to the corner brick pier.
elevator effects
The building had four elevator bays allowing for smooth transitions between floors. The metal decorated grills gave dimension to the structure.
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daylight driven design
As it was important in the Home Insurance Building to obtain a larger number of small offices with an abundance of light, the piers between the windows were reduced to the minimum and the new construction was adopted.
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first skyscraper?
Acting on this conviction we have no hesitation in stating that the Home Insurance Building was the first high building to utilize as the basic principle of its design the method known as skeleton construction, and that there is convincing evidence that Major Jenney, in solving the particular problems of light and loads appearing in this building, discovered the true application of skeleton construction to the building of high structures and invented and here utilized for the first time in special forms.”
quotes of uneasiness
"It was told that Mr. Fuller of the Fuller Construction Co., argued with Jenney and became very empathic in his denunciation of the use of steel for tall buildings. On leaving the room, after one of these discussions, Mr. Fuller insisted emphatically that ”Jenny is a fool”. His agrument, or one of them, was that a steel frame building would twist and warp under the normal heat of the sun until the building would fall."
E.C. Jensen
journal entries
documents
