Also known as: Cathedral of Commerce Built: 1922-1925 Designed by: Raymond Hood, and John Mead Howells Type: Skyscraper Stories: 34 Maximum Height: 463 feet / 141 meters Location: 435 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, United States
I nspired by the Button Tower of the cathedral at Rouen, France, the Tribune Tower exemplifies the way American architects have elevated office buildings to sacred status. Newspaper publisher Colonel Robert R. McCormick held a $50,000.00 international competition to design, "the most beautiful and eye-catching office building in the world." In some estimations, it succeeded. The tower has all of the traditional elements of a skyscraper plus heritage expressed in flying buttresses, spires, grotesques, and more. The base of the Tribune Tower contains 120 stones from important locations all around the world, including the Parthenon, in Greece; the pyramids, in Egypt; the Taj Mahal, in India; the Alamo, in San Antonio; the Great Wall of China; and Injun Joe Cave in Missouri.
The 24th floor was the office of legendry Tribune publisher Colonel Robert R. McCormick. He had a hidden staricase installed that would allow him to escape to a secret hideaway in the event the building was stormed.
In the lobby of this building is a giant relief map of the United States made out of shredded money.
The main lobby of the Tribune Tower is known as the Hall of Inscriptions. It is lined with famous quotations about the free press.
1 February, 1989: Tribune Tower was named an official Chicago Landmark.
11 October, 2004: The McCormick Tribune Foundation announced that Tribune Tower will be the new home of an as-yet-unnamed museum about American freedom with a concentration on the First Amendment.
1 December, 2004: The competition to name the new museum at Tribune Tower ended.
1 April, 2005: Groundbreaking for the Freedom Museum at Tribune Tower.
April, 2006: The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum opened in the space formerly occupied by a Hammacher Schlemmer store. Officially, the space is the WGN-TV Building, though the television station is no longer located there. The museum cost $10 million to build.
May 17, 2006: Stones from the Sydney Opera House were added to the facade. They were presented by Janette Howard, the wife of Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
January 30, 2009: The McCormick Freedom Museum announced it is leaving this building to become a mobile museum.
WGN Radio has its studios on the ground floor of the Tribune Tower. You can watch the local talk shows live through the glass windows.
Massachusetts Hall at Harvard University, New Haven, Connecticut
The Chateau de Chillon in Switzerland.
Westminster Abbey in London
Edinburgh Castle in Scotland
Pevensey Castle in East Sussex, England
Wawel Castle in Krakow, Poland
The Stockholm Palace in Sweden
A quote from Milton
Cologne Cathedral in Germany
Fort San Antonio de Abad in Manilla, The Philippines
The Parthenon in Athens, Greece
Cologne Cathedral in Germany
The moon
The Sant Lucia Barracks in Manilla, The Philippines
The Tower of David in Jerusalem
Fort Santiago in Manilla, The Philippines
Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France
A temple in the Henan Province of China. Labeled "Ancient Temple, Honan Province, China."
The Dublin General Post Office in Dublin, Ireland
The Winter Palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Labeled "Peking."
A temple in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Labeled "Peking."
Haghia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey. Labeled "Santa Sophia, Constantinople, Turkey."
A temple in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Labeled "Peking."
Roman ruins in Birecik, Turkey
L'Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France
The World War I Montsed American Memorial in Thiacourt, France. Labeled "Mont Sec Memorial, St. Mihiel, France"
Clementine Hall in Vatican City. Incorrectly labeled "Pope's Residence."
A Viking monument from the Malar Lake Valley of Sweden
Flodden Field near Branxton, England
The Weeping Tower in Amsterdam. Labeled "Tower of Tears."
The Washoe County Courthouse in Reno, Nevada. Labeled "Reno Courthouse."
Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah. Labeled "Mormon Temple."
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana
Aztec Ruins National Monument in New Mexico
Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona
The Mesa Verde cliff dwellings in Montezuma County, Colorado
The Miraflores Locks in Panama
The Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Did You Know?
The Tribune Tower was once used as a carillon. However, it was electronic, not mechanical, and is no longer in service.
randi
Thursday, August 13th, 2009 @ 10:51am
Rating: Five stars. After 40 years it looks even more beautiful today.
Brent Kampert
Friday, May 1st, 2009 @ 11:48am
Rating: Five stars. To answer gladys c, we do. The building at 181 West Madison Street in downtown Chicago, is to compliment this building. Even they floodlit their skyscraper's top at night. 311 South Wacker Drive lights their building at night with 2,000 Flourescent Tubes and was designed to setback from Wacker Drive.
gladys c
Saturday, February 7th, 2009 @ 9:39am
I wish we made buildings like this now. Trully a treasure!
Brent Kampert
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 @ 12:15pm
Rating: Five stars. I like the shape and design of this building, even when the top of the tower is floodlit at night.
Emily
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 @ 10:46pm
Rating: Five stars. I love this building! As a chicagoian this is definately one of my favorite buildings to admire.
Sophie Ould-Ferhat
Thursday, April 27th, 2006 @ 6:14pm
Rating: Five stars. The tower of the cathedral of Rouen (Normandy, France) which inspired the Tribune Tower is the Butter Tower, la tour du Beurre built in 15th century in the late gothic style called flamboyant. It was named Butter tower because its construction was paid with the money people gave to the church to get the right to eat butter and milk during Lent.
Patricia McClymont
Wednesday, January 5th, 2005 @ 5:58pm
Rating: Five stars. After my visit to Chicago, my only criticism is the inscription below the stone from Flodden Field which states that it was a Scotch-English Battle 1513 Northumberland England. I was born a few miles north of the battle site in a town called Coldstream (in Scotland) and know that all Scottish people will be upset that it is inscribed as a stone from a Scotch - English Battle instead of a Scottish - English Battle (we think of Scotch as a drink!)
Add your corrections, comments, reviews, or thoughts about this
building. Simply fill out the form below.
Your name:
E-mail address:
Your nation:
Rate this structure:
15
Your comments:
Messages without valid e-mail addresses, or containing profanity
will be automatically discarded. You're wasting your time, not ours.
randi
Five stars.
Brent Kampert
Sophie Ould-Ferhat
Patricia McClymont