![]() ![]() Therefore, Jenney incorporated a clamp consisting of a one-inch diameter wrought iron rod that was bent at one end and placed into a notch cut in the top flange of both girders. As a good amount of tolerance was needed for site erection, the holes were larger than the bolt, leaving the connection with a considerable amount of play. The girders were loosely bolted to the column by a single bolt that passed through each of the girder webs and a projected separating bracket that was also cast with the column. Two 12-inch wrought iron I-beam floor girders sat on a ledge at the interior face of the column. The columns were cast with projecting shelf brackets to support the appropriate horizontal framing members. The iron columns were set on top of the granite piers at the third floor and were bolted one on top of another to support the upper seven floors and roof. These were story-high, hollow rectangular cast-iron columns that supported the floor beams. Therefore, he inserted a cast iron section within the exterior masonry piers in the two street facades. ![]() Jenney‘s objective was to minimize the size of the masonry piers in the office floors in order to maximize the daylighting of the interior office space. The two masonry bearing party walls that ran the entire height of the building on its north and east lotlines, as well as the interior iron cage, were typical for the period. This left a large void in the middle of the site that Jenney used as an exterior light court, that allowed the addition of only three more offices per floor. In plan, Jenney lined both the 138′ frontage on La Salle and the 96′ Adams Street front with single-loaded offices. The detail in which Jenney departed from standard Chicago construction of the early 1880s was his insertion of a rectangular iron section within the masonry piers in only the upper eight stories of the two brick and stone street facades. The first two floors of the two street fronts consisted of solid granite piers, battered in thickness from 4′ at the base to 2′-10″ at the third floor. Even after the Home Insurance Building’s completion, he had stated in an article in the December 1885 issue of Inland Architect that “a square iron column was built into each of the piers in the street fronts.” Therefore, Jenney’s conceptual understanding in 1883 of the use of iron in tall buildings, was not formed around the concept of the iron frame, but on using iron members to supplement the structural masonry in the piers of a building’s exterior. This combination of masonry and iron clearly reflected his French training and familiarity with French theorist Viollet-le-Duc‘s ideas. Jenney had actually published an article in 1883, in which he revealed his understanding of the use of iron members just before he received the Home commission: “Educated architects particularly in Europe… have been working with and writing on the combination of stone, brick and iron, in the street elevations of buildings.” He spoke of embedding iron sections within masonry piers, and not of wrapping an iron frame with a veneer of masonry. Instead, Ducat gave Jenney a chance to design his first tall office building.Ĭhicago: the northeast corner of La Salle and Adams Streets. Had Jenney not been a good friend of Ducat, it is reasonable to assume that Jenney’s career would have faded into obscurity. Ducat had been a major in the Civil War, during which he had made the acquaintance of William Le Baron Jenney. The company held a design competition in February 1884 that was managed by the company’s Chicago agent, Arthur C. ![]() Waller had assembled the lots on the northeast corner of Adams and La Salle during 1883 for the British-owned insurance company to erect a new office building. While Burnham had chosen the path of architecture, Waller had gravitated to real estate development and had gained a reputation as a major player in Chicago properties. Waller, who had been a close friend of Daniel Burnham. The exterior use of iron skeleton framing has been central to the historical reputation of the Home Insurance Building, giving rise to the claim by some historians that it was the first skyscraper. ![]()
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