Editing Auditorium Building

{{Short description|Building in Chicago, Illinois}}
{{Use American English|date = November 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                    = Auditorium Building
| nrhp_type               = nhl
| designated_other1_name  = Chicago Landmark
| designated_other1_date  = September 15, 1976
| designated_other1_abbr  = CL
| designated_other1_link  = Chicago Landmark
| designated_other1_color = #aaccff
| locmapin                = United States Chicago Central#Illinois#USA
| image                   = Auditorium Building Chicago June 30, 2012-92.jpg
| image_size              = 325
| caption                 = Building's exterior in 2012
| location                = 430 S. Michigan Ave.<br>Chicago, Illinois
| coordinates             = {{coord|41|52|34|N|87|37|31|W|display=title}}
| area                    = {{convert|67699.5|sqft|m2}}
| built                   = 1889
| architect               = [[Louis Sullivan]]<br>[[Dankmar Adler]]
| architecture            = Late-19th- and early-20th-century American movements
| designated_nrhp_type    = May 15, 1975<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=915&ResourceType=Building |title=Auditorium Building |date=May 15, 1975 |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=December 8, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009042000/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=915&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=October 9, 2012 }}</ref>
| added                   = April 17, 1970<ref name="nrhpnom">{{cite journal |url={{NHLS url|id=70000230}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Auditorium Building |author=Pitts, Carolyn |date=March 10, 1975|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=December 8, 2011}}</ref>
| refnum                  = 70000230<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
| partof                  = [[Historic Michigan Boulevard District]]
}}

[[File:Auditorium Building Chicago June 30, 2012-91.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Historical markers]]
The '''Auditorium Building''' in Chicago is one of the best-known designs of [[Louis Sullivan]] and [[Dankmar Adler]].  Completed in 1889, the building is located at the northwest corner of South [[Michigan Avenue (Chicago)|Michigan Avenue]] and  [[Ida B. Wells Drive]]. The building was designed to be a multi-use complex, including offices, a theater, and a hotel. As a young apprentice, [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] worked on some of the interior design.

The [[Auditorium Theatre]] is part of the Auditorium Building and is located at 50 East [[Ida B. Wells]] Drive.  The theater was the first home of the [[Chicago Civic Opera]] and the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]].

The building was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on April 17, 1970.<ref name="nrhpnom"/> It was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1975,<ref name="nhlsum"/> and was designated a [[Chicago Landmark]] on September 15, 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=1246&counter=20 |title=Auditorium Building|work=Commission on Chicago Landmarks|publisher=Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Historic Preservation Division|access-date=December 8, 2011}}</ref> In addition, it is a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark [[Historic Michigan Boulevard District]]. Since 1947, the Auditorium Building has been part of [[Roosevelt University]].

==Origin and purpose==
[[Ferdinand Peck]], a Chicago businessman, incorporated the Chicago Auditorium Association in December 1886 to develop what he wanted to be the world's largest, grandest, most expensive [[theater (structure)|theater]] that would rival such institutions as the [[Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)|Metropolitan Opera House]] in New York City. He was said to have wanted to make high culture accessible to the working classes of Chicago.

The building was to include an office block and a first class hotel. Peck persuaded many Chicago business tycoons to go on board with him, including [[Marshall Field]], Edson Keith, [[Martin A. Ryerson]], [[Charles L. Hutchinson]] and [[George Pullman]]. The association hired the [[Adler & Sullivan|renowned architectural firm]] of [[Dankmar Adler]] and [[Louis Sullivan]] to design the building. At the time, a young [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] was employed at the firm as draftsman, and he may have contributed to the design.<ref>"Some interior details were probably drawn by [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], who started in Sullivan's office as a draftsman in 1887."
Banister Fletcher. ''A History of Architecture''. p. 1241.</ref>

<blockquote>The Auditorium was built for a [[syndicate]] of businessmen to house a large civic opera house; to provide an economic base it was decided to wrap the auditorium with a hotel and office block. Hence Adler & Sullivan had to plan a complex multiple-use building. Fronting on [[Michigan Avenue (Chicago)|Michigan Avenue]], overlooking the lake, was the hotel (now Roosevelt University) while the offices were placed to the west on Wabash Avenue. The entrance to the auditorium is on the south side beneath the tall blocky eighteen-story tower. The rest of the building is a uniform ten stories, organized in the same way as Richardson's [[Marshall Field]] Wholesale Store. The interior embellishment, however, is wholly Sullivan's, and some of the details, because of their continuous [[curvilinear]] foliate [[Motif (art)|motifs]], are among the nearest equivalents to European [[Art Nouveau]] architecture.<ref>Roth, Leland M. ''A Concise History of American Architecture''. p. 179-80</ref></blockquote>

==Design==
Sullivan and Adler designed a tall structure with load-bearing outer walls, and based the exterior appearance partly on the design of [[Henry Hobson Richardson|H.H. Richardson]]'s [[Marshall Field Warehouse]], another Chicago landmark.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Idea of Louis Sullivan | last=Sarkowski | first=John | year=1956 | publisher=Bulfinch Press | page=22 | isbn=0-8212-2667-3}}</ref> The Auditorium is a heavy, impressive structure externally, and was more striking in its day when buildings of its scale were less common.  When completed, it was the tallest building in the city and largest building in the United States.<ref name=FFFE>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122064771323104933 |title=Form Follows Function, Elegantly: Louis Sullivan designed the Auditorium Theatre's interior to complement its acoustics-driven shape |access-date=September 7, 2008 |date=September 6, 2008 |publisher=[[Dow Jones & Company]] |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |author=Henning, Joel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911214215/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122064771323104933.html |archive-date=September 11, 2008 |url-status=live }}</ref>

One of the most innovative features of the building was its massive raft [[foundation (architecture)|foundation]], designed by Adler in conjunction with engineer Paul Mueller. The soil beneath the Auditorium consists of soft blue [[clay]] to a depth of over 100 feet, which made conventional foundations impossible.  Adler and Mueller designed a floating mat of crisscrossed [[railroad tie]]s, topped with a double layer of steel rails embedded in concrete, the whole assemblage coated with [[pitch (resin)|pitch]].

The resulting raft distributed the weight of the massive outer walls over a large area. However, the weight of the masonry outer walls in relation to the relatively lightweight interior deformed the raft during the course of a century, and today portions of the building have settled as much as 29&nbsp;inches. This deflection is clearly visible in the theater lobby, where the [[mosaic]] floor takes on a distinct slope as it nears the outer walls.  This settlement is not because of poor engineering but the fact the design was changed during construction.  The original plan had the exterior covered in lightweight terra-cotta, but this was changed to stone after the foundations were under construction.  Most of the settlement occurred within a decade after construction, and at one time a plan existed to shorten the interior supports to level the floors but this was never carried out.

In the center of the building was a 4,300 seat [[auditorium]], originally intended primarily for production of [[Grand Opera]].  In keeping with Peck's democratic ideals, the auditorium was designed so that all seats would have good views and acoustics.  The original plans had no [[Box (theatre)|box seats]] and when these were added to the plans they did not receive prime locations.

Housed in the building around the central space were an 1890 addition of 136 offices and a 400-room hotel,<ref name=FFFE/><ref name=ABEOC>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/89.html|title=Auditorium Building|access-date=September 7, 2008|year=2005|encyclopedia=The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago|publisher=[[Chicago Historical Society]]|author=Carey, Heidi Pawlowski}}</ref> whose purpose was to generate much of the revenue to support the opera.  While the Auditorium Building was not intended as a commercial building, Peck wanted it to be self-sufficient.  Revenue from the offices and hotel was meant to allow ticket prices to remain reasonable. In reality, both the hotel and office block became unprofitable within a few years.

<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="160px">
File:Auditorium bldg (Interior) HABS.jpg |interior cross-section
File:Auditorium bldg (foundations) HABS.jpg |foundation
File:Auditorium bldg (basement) HABS.jpg |basement
</gallery>

==Later uses==
On October 5, 1887, President [[Grover Cleveland]] laid the [[cornerstone]] for the Auditorium Building. The [[1888 Republican National Convention]] was held in a partially finished building where [[Benjamin Harrison]] was nominated as a presidential candidate. On December 9, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison dedicated the building and opera star [[Adelina Patti]] sang "Home Sweet Home" to thunderous applause.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} Adler & Sullivan had also opened their offices on the 16th and 17th floors of the Auditorium tower.
[[File:Roosevelt university murray green library 2017-09-10.jpg|thumb|[[Roosevelt University]]'s Murray-Green Library on the 10th floor of the Auditorium Building]]

The [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] debuted on October 16, 1891, and made its home in the Auditorium Theatre until moving to [[Symphony Center|Orchestra Hall]] in 1904.<ref name=FFFE/>

The opera company renting the accommodation moved to the [[Civic Opera House]] in 1929, and the Auditorium Theatre closed during the [[Great Depression]]. In 1941, it was taken over by the city of Chicago to be used as a [[World War II]] servicemen's center. By 1946, [[Roosevelt University]] moved into the Auditorium Building,<ref name=FFFE/> but the theater was not restored to its former splendor.

In 1952, Congress Parkway was widened, bringing the curb to the southern edge of the building.  To make room for a sidewalk, some ground-floor rooms and part of the theater lobby were removed and a sidewalk arcade created.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.emporis.com/buildings/117207/auditorium-building-chicago-il-usa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512185639/http://www.emporis.com/buildings/117207/auditorium-building-chicago-il-usa |url-status=usurped |archive-date=May 12, 2015 |title=Auditorium Building |work=[[Emporis]]}}</ref>

[[File:OBAMANOMENON (3004814871).jpg|thumb|right|Crowd outside the Auditorium Theatre during Obama's [[Barack Obama election victory speech, 2008|Grant Park rally on the night of the 2008 election]]]] 
On October 31, 1967, the Auditorium Theatre reopened and through 1975, the Auditorium served as a [[rock concert|rock venue]]. Among other notable acts, the [[Grateful Dead]] played there ten times from 1971 through 1977.

The Doors also played their first concert at the Auditorium Building after their arrest of singer [[Jim Morrison]] on June 14, 1969.

It was declared a [[National Historic Landmark]] by the [[United States Department of the Interior|U.S. Department of the Interior]] in 1975.

The building was equipped with the first [[central air conditioning]] system and the theater was the first to be entirely lit by [[incandescent]] [[light bulb]]s.<ref name=FFFE/> In 2001, a major restoration of the Auditorium Theatre was begun by Daniel P. Coffey and Associates in conjunction with [[EverGreene Architectural Arts]] to return the theater to its original colors and finishes.

On April 30, 2015, the [[National Football League]] held its [[2015 NFL draft]] in the Auditorium Theatre, the first time the league had held its annual draft in Chicago in more than 50 years.

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="137px">
File:Auditorium Building5.jpg |Exterior detail, seen from Congress Parkway
File:Chicago Auditorium Building, interior from balcony.jpg |Auditorium Theatre interior from the balcony
File:Chicago Auditorium Building, theatre detail.jpg |Interior detail of the Auditorium Theatre
File:Auditorium Building9.jpg |Auditorium Hotel – dining hall from the South
File:Auditorium Building10.jpg |Auditorium Hotel – detail of the grand stairs
File:Chicago Auditorium Building Postcard 1906 (Front).png|Postcard of building circa 1906, with handwritten note: "This is where I work!"
</gallery>

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist|2}}

'''Further reading'''
* {{cite journal|last=Siry|first=Joseph M.|title=Chicago's Auditorium Building: Opera or Anarchism|journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians|date=June 1998|volume=57|issue=2|pages=128–159|doi=10.2307/991376 |author-link=Joseph Siry|jstor=991376}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Auditorium Building, Chicago}}
*{{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20051216055738/http://www.auditoriumtheatre.org/wb/}}
*{{Cite web |url=http://www.emporis.com/buildings/117207/auditorium-building-chicago-il-usa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150512185639/http://www.emporis.com/buildings/117207/auditorium-building-chicago-il-usa |url-status=usurped |archive-date=May 12, 2015 |title=Auditorium Building |work=[[Emporis]]}}
*{{HABS |survey=IL-1007 |id=il0091 |title=Auditorium Building |photos=120 |dwgs=70 |data=94 |cap=11}}
*[http://www.broadwayinchicago.com/theatreinfo_history.php Theatre History] by [[Broadway in Chicago]]
*[http://mms.newberry.org/xml/xml_files/Auditorium.xml Auditorium Theatre Programs] at the [[Newberry Library]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111028065658/http://explorechicago.org/city/en/things_see_do/attractions/tourism/auditorium_theatre.html Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University] at Explore Chicago
*[http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Auditorium_Building.html Auditorium Building] at GreatBuildings.com by ''[[ArchitectureWeek]]''
*[http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/chisull/chisull.html Images of the Auditorium Building by Louis Sullivan, 1885–89], by Mary Ann Sullivan, [[Bluffton University]]
*[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zJpnTu57Koc/TFG8u1XDRxI/AAAAAAAAVVs/MmpAXB7Po4I/s1600/LI-archi-ab-020b.jpg Portrait medallions of Richard Wagner and Joseph Haydn] at the Auditorium Theatre by [[Johannes Gelert]]
*[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zJpnTu57Koc/TFG8nPH94TI/AAAAAAAAVVk/knvfTCynaPQ/s1600/LI-archi-ab-010b.jpg Portrait medallions of Demosthenes and William Shakespeare] at the Auditorium Theatre by [[Johannes Gelert]]
*High-resolution 360° Panoramas and Images of [https://mcid.mcah.columbia.edu/art-atlas/modern-architecture-chicago/auditorium-building Audtiorium Building | Art Atlas]

{{navboxes|list=
{{Chicago Skyscrapers}}
{{Chicago Landmark skyscrapers}}
{{Louis Sullivan}}
{{Republican National Convention venues}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Chicago school architecture in Illinois]]
[[Category:Commercial buildings completed in 1889]]
[[Category:Concert halls in Illinois]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Chicago]]
[[Category:Historic district contributing properties in Illinois]]
[[Category:Joffrey Ballet]]
[[Category:Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements architecture]]
[[Category:Louis Sullivan buildings]]
[[Category:Chicago Landmarks]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Chicago]]
[[Category:Roosevelt University]]
[[Category:Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Chicago]]
[[Category:Art Nouveau architecture in Chicago]]
[[Category:Art Nouveau theatres]]
[[Category:Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois]]
[[Category:Chicago Civic Opera]]
[[Category:Skyscrapers in Chicago]]
[[Category:1889 establishments in Illinois]]