The Inland Steel Building is a skyscraper located at 30 W. Monroe Street in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois. It is one of the city's defining commercial high-rises of the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

era of modern

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

.Schulze, Franz & Harrington, Kevin (2003). ''Chicago's Famous Buildings'' (5th ed.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 75. . Its principal designers were Bruce Graham and

Walter Netsch Walter A. Netsch (February 23, 1920 – June 15, 2008) was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture as well as with the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. His signature aes ...

of the

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm ...

architecture firm. The building is managed and leased by MB Real Estate. The Inland Steel Building was designated a Chicago Landmark in 1998.

Architecture

The use of brushed stainless steel cladding reflects the corporation that commissioned the building as its headquarters, the

Inland Steel Company The Inland Steel Company was an American steel company active in 1893–1998. Its history as an independent firm thus spanned much of the 20th century. It was headquartered in Chicago at the landmark Inland Steel Building. Inland Steel was an i ...

. The placement of all structural columns on the building's perimeter—and the consolidation of elevators and other service functions in a separate tower—allowed for a highly flexible interior floor layout with no interior columns. This design is a good example of the widely held principle of the era, "

form follows function Form follows function is a principle of design associated with late 19th and early 20th century architecture and industrial design in general, which states that the shape of a building or object should primarily relate to its intended function ...

" (

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

). The lobby features a sculpture of gold, stainless steel and enameled copper by Richard Lippold entitled ''Radiant I''. Marter, Joan. ''The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art'',
Google Books link
,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 2011, pp. 172-73, (), (). The Inland Steel Building was designated a Chicago Landmark on October 7, 1998. The building would later serve as the prototype for SOM’s much larger

One Chase Manhattan Plaza 28 Liberty Street, formerly known as One Chase Manhattan Plaza, is a 60-story International style skyscraper in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City, between Nassau, Liberty, William, and Pine Streets. The building was designe ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, completed in 1961. Key architectural and structural concepts incorporated in the building influenced those used in the design and construction of the Cooperative Insurance Tower in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(completed 1962).

References

External links

Inland Steel Building - Skidmore, Owings & MerrillInland Steel Building Renovation - Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
{{National Register of Historic Places Office buildings completed in 1957 Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Chicago Landmarks 1957 establishments in Illinois