THE INSIDES OF GREAT BUILDINGS. Chicagoans care about their architecture. Here is an article by the Chicago Tribune architecture critic, Blair Kamin, on the issue of whether to preserve the interior of a building rather than just saving the facade as part of a different building. Great architects do more than design facades. The article praises the conversion of the Reliance Building into the Hotel Burnham. I have stayed at the Burnham and the interior is indeed wonderful. The doors to some of the rooms are the original office doors, with transoms, and the beautiful metal staircase has been preserved between several floors. Across the street is the Marshall Field retail store, which was recently selected by the British architect Richard Rogers as one of his five favorite American buildings. Rogers singled out the interior for praise: “The complex by D. H. Burnham & Co. is known for its cast-bronze clocks and Tiffany favrile iridescent glass ceiling.” Of course, there are real problems with trying to adapt an old building to modern requirements (think of the electricity issues alone). One solution, probably never to be repeated, was the transfer in its entirety of the trading room of the old Stock Exchange building (by Adler and Sullivan) to the Chicago Art Institute. This last has special meaning for me. My parents met when they were both working in the Stock Exchange building.
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During a trip to NYC a few years ago, Patrick and I paid homage to some of the most luxurious buildings in the city (most notably the Waldorf Astoria) by visiting the bathrooms. It was mostly a joke, but it is true that some bathrooms really are breathtaking. We were indignant to find that the Chrysler Building had no bathrooms on the ground floor and you had to have security clearance to go any higher.
The mens’ room in the Cloud Club at the very top of the Chrysler Building was spectacular, mainly because of the view. It may be closed now. The lobby of the Chrysler building had murals on the ceiling and really beautiful elevators.
We’ve still got a Modern Marvels episode about the Chrysler Building on TiVo we need to watch.
I don’t know if any of the old movie palaces are still around, the ones people used to go to before and during the Depression. There was one in Brooklyn Heights, when I was living there in 1968-69, along the same street as the great store Abraham and Strauss, that was like something out of a dream. The ladies room, was like a grand ballroom, with chandeliers, red velvet, and all around the foyer, leading to the actual stalls, were gilded mirrors, all around the room, each with a gilded dressing table and gilded seat. Of course, this would encourage women to take FOREVER in the ladies room, but the setup was so beautiful and elegant, so evocative of an earlier, more gracious time.