Auditorium Building
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(2012)
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Location | 430 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, Illinois |
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Coordinates | Coordinates: 41°52′34″N 87°37′31″W / 41.87611°N 87.62528°W |
Area | 67,699.5 square feet (6,289.49 m2) |
Built | 1889 |
Architect |
Louis Sullivan Dankmar Adler |
Architectural style | Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements |
NRHP Reference # | 70000230 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 17, 1970 |
Designated CP | May 15, 1975 |
Designated CL | September 15, 1976 |
The Auditorium Building in Chicago is one of the best-known designs of Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. Completed in 1889, the building is located at the northwest corner of South Michigan Avenue and Congress Street (now Congress Parkway). The building, which when constructed was the largest in the United States and the tallest in Chicago, was designed to be a multi-use complex, including offices, a theater and a hotel. As a young apprentice, Frank Lloyd Wright worked on some of the interior design.
The Auditorium Theatre is part of the Auditorium Building and is located at 50 East Congress Parkway. The theater was the first home of the Chicago Civic Opera and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It currently hosts the season performances of the Joffrey Ballet.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975, and was designated a Chicago Landmark on September 15, 1976. In addition, it is a historic district contributing property for the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. Since 1947, the Auditorium Building has been part of Roosevelt University.
Ferdinand Peck, a Chicago businessman, incorporated the Chicago Auditorium Association in December 1886 to develop what he wanted to be the world's largest, grandest, most expensive theater that would rival such institutions as the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He was said to have wanted to make high culture accessible to the working classes of Chicago.