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Showing posts with the label Federal Centre

Chicago day 1, still in the Loop

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We moved away from the heart of the financial centre but were still in the downtown Loop of Chicago so that Michael could show us some more iconic buildings.  The Monadnock building consists of 2 parts, one built in 1891 and the other in 1893. The first part was designed by John Root who pushed the building to an incredible height of 16 storeys and designed large bay windows to let in light and air. At the base, masonry walls 16 feet deep were needed to support the structure.  The second part, built only 3 years later after Root's death, was designed by Holabird and Roche and used the new fangled steel framing to support the building and so the brickwork was far less extensive. The two parts were designed to match, it is only the depth of the brickwork which gives away the earlier building method. There was rather a nice hat store at the base of the building. We then went on to see the Fisher Building (1896) and the Manhattan Building.The latter built in 1891 boast