Tribune Tower Audio Guide

Tribune Tower: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Tribune Tower

   Welcome to Tribune Tower, one of the great storytellers of Chicago's skyline. You are at 435 North Michigan Avenue, just north of the Chicago River. Look up. This is a 36 floor Gothic Revival skyscraper that rises 463 feet, with soaring vertical lines, flying buttresses and rich stone embellishment that still pull the eye upward. The tower was built for the Chicago Tribune and its owner, Robert R. McCormick, and it grew out of one of the most famous design competitions in architectural history. Over the next few minutes we will look at that contest, at the building's craftsmanship, and at the strange collection of stones set into its walls. The tower also stands at one of the most architecturally significant intersections in Chicago. The Wrigley Building, the London Guarantee Building and 333 North Michigan Avenue are all close by, so you are surrounded by neighbors that make the corner worth lingering over.

2. 02

   The Contest of the Century

   In 1922, the Chicago Tribune turned its search for a new headquarters into a worldwide event. The newspaper marked its seventy-fifth anniversary by inviting architects everywhere to design what it called the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world. The prize money was 100,000 dollars in total, with 50,000 dollars going to the first-place winner. It worked wonderfully as publicity. More than 260 entries arrived from 23 countries, and the newspaper published many of them and put them on display in Chicago. The entries still capture a turning point in American architecture. Some designers, especially entrants from Germany, left out every historical reference. A few produced explicitly Chicago School buildings, bringing a regional flavor to the mix. The selection committee included McCormick, his co-publisher Joseph Patterson, several long-serving Tribune staff members and the architect Alfred Granger. They chose a Gothic Revival scheme by New York architects John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood. Some critics had hoped the winner would point toward the future, but this design appealed to the owners' sense of nostalgia, history and moral purpose.

3. 03

   Gothic Spires, Modern Bones

   Now study the design itself. The tower was completed in 1925, in the late days of the neo-Gothic movement, and Howells and Hood took a rather conservative approach to style. Yet it is not purely medieval. The lower office block is sheathed in Indiana limestone, with vertical piers and horizontal spandrels that are characteristic of Art Deco. The architects blended earlier European ideas with modern American skyscraper design. That mix matters because architecture was about to change. Art Deco was soon to take over American skyscrapers, and some of its traits already seem to peek out from the Gothic costume. Raymond Hood's career was just gathering pace. He had been invited by John Mead Howells to help prepare the competition plans, and the two went on to collaborate on many other commercial buildings. Tilt your head back toward the crown and follow the buttresses upward. The overall height is 463 feet, and the tower reaches about 495 feet if you count the antenna.

4. 04

   A Wall of World Fragments

   Here is a detail that rewards a slow walk along the base of the building. Embedded in the lower walls are rocks and bricks collected by Tribune reporters from historically important sites all over the world. Robert McCormick wanted the newspaper's home to carry pieces of history in its walls. The fragments come from famous places, including Bunker Hill, Omaha Beach and Westminster Abbey, along with other monuments and battlefields. It is like a scrapbook carved into the stonework. Each piece has a different origin, and each one links this Chicago corner to a story far away. So as you pass along the lower levels, look closely at the stone. You are not just reading a skyscraper. You are reading a newspaper's idea of how journalism, history and place belong together.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   The tower's story did not end when the newsroom moved out. WGN Radio broadcast from the building until June 18, 2018, and since 2018 the tower has been converted into luxury residences. In 2023 the project won a Driehaus Prize from Landmarks Illinois for architectural preservation and adaptive reuse. The building is a Chicago Landmark and a contributing property to the Michigan–Wacker Historic District. The competition still inspires people, too. In 2017, at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, architects and design studios from around the world built large-scale models reimagining the Tribune Tower competition for a new century. Before you wander on, look at the neighboring towers and compare their personalities with this one. Which one would you have picked as the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world?