The American Architect
The ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. CXXIVWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1923NUMBER 2434
PROJECT for LAKE FRONT DEVELOPMENT of the CITY of CHICAGO
BY ELIEL SAARINEN, Architect
FOREWORD
W
HEN about half a year ago I set foot in Chicago for the first time, I was quite
often asked, “How do you like Chicago?” The question was, of course, conventional, and so naturally was the reply, “I certainly like it.”
But should I put this question to myself and answer it, I should feel constrained to go deeper into the matter. And the answer would also be more difficult. If, for instance, I take the elevated to the South Side and see along the tracks the numberless rear “facades” with their more or less dilapidated wooden stairways—all begrimed with smoke and soot—I must honestly say, “I do not like Chicago at all.” But, if, on the other hand, 1 make a round trip by automobile through all the beautiful parks on both the South, North and. West sides, drive along tree-lined roads and pleasant groves, at times catching a glimpse of beautiful, wide-stretching Lake Michigan, then, indeed, I feel that Chicago is a fair metropolis.
That, however, which impresses one most strongly as he drives around is the possibility Chicago offers of becoming in time one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
With its lake front of about twenty miles exclusive of . the suburbs, I know no other city that presents such abundant opportunity for monumental as well as picturesque development. Sections, already built up, will in the near future have to be rebuilt because of the city’s rapid expansion, and can by sound and unified effort—perhaps also by proper changes in the city plan—be made into beautiful neighborhoods with parks, open spaces, etc., this even in fairly central parts of the city.
But unique it is that almost in the, heart and focus of the city there is an enormous untouched expanse, which if improved in a happy manner
*1136 Maple Avenue, Evanston, III.
could be gradually made into one of the world’s most, monumental places.
This possibility of making Chicago a city beautiful on a truly grand scale was most strikingly visualized by Mr. Burnham in the city plan he worked out about fifteen years ago. It is a splendid and grandiose project and ought to be adopted in its entirety as a foundation for a rational recreation of Chicago.
Before I came to Chicago, or even had a thought of ever coming to the United States, I was, as a town builder, professionally familiar with Chicago’s official city plan. I had also studied the aforementioned improvement project in all its details. The heart of Mr. Burnham’s plan was the laying out of Grant Park and in connection with it a broad monumental park boulevard running West at Congress Street. Upon my arrival in Chicago I expected to see Grant Park ready and the boulevard partly finished, or at least in the process of being built. But Grant Park lay untouched and the monumental boulevard seemed to have been forgotten. The Burnham dream seemed in large part, perhaps altogether, to have met the same fate that overtakes most beautiful dreams in these days. Their realization is delayed until it is too late; or else their magnificence and beauty are so overwhelming that one loses faith in them.
The proposed boulevard is an attractive idea and the city’s beauty would have been much enhanced had it materialized. However, it was probably found to be too costly.
I am not sufficiently familiar with early Chicago conditions to form an idea of the possibility of carrying out such a boulevard project through the most central part of the city. It seems., however, that it is now too late and that the project, in. so far as it affects the loop at least, at the present
(Copyright, 1923, The Architectural & Building Press, Inc.)
The ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW
VOL. CXXIVWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1923NUMBER 2434
PROJECT for LAKE FRONT DEVELOPMENT of the CITY of CHICAGO
BY ELIEL SAARINEN, Architect
FOREWORD
W
HEN about half a year ago I set foot in Chicago for the first time, I was quite
often asked, “How do you like Chicago?” The question was, of course, conventional, and so naturally was the reply, “I certainly like it.”
But should I put this question to myself and answer it, I should feel constrained to go deeper into the matter. And the answer would also be more difficult. If, for instance, I take the elevated to the South Side and see along the tracks the numberless rear “facades” with their more or less dilapidated wooden stairways—all begrimed with smoke and soot—I must honestly say, “I do not like Chicago at all.” But, if, on the other hand, 1 make a round trip by automobile through all the beautiful parks on both the South, North and. West sides, drive along tree-lined roads and pleasant groves, at times catching a glimpse of beautiful, wide-stretching Lake Michigan, then, indeed, I feel that Chicago is a fair metropolis.
That, however, which impresses one most strongly as he drives around is the possibility Chicago offers of becoming in time one of the world’s most beautiful cities.
With its lake front of about twenty miles exclusive of . the suburbs, I know no other city that presents such abundant opportunity for monumental as well as picturesque development. Sections, already built up, will in the near future have to be rebuilt because of the city’s rapid expansion, and can by sound and unified effort—perhaps also by proper changes in the city plan—be made into beautiful neighborhoods with parks, open spaces, etc., this even in fairly central parts of the city.
But unique it is that almost in the, heart and focus of the city there is an enormous untouched expanse, which if improved in a happy manner
*1136 Maple Avenue, Evanston, III.
could be gradually made into one of the world’s most, monumental places.
This possibility of making Chicago a city beautiful on a truly grand scale was most strikingly visualized by Mr. Burnham in the city plan he worked out about fifteen years ago. It is a splendid and grandiose project and ought to be adopted in its entirety as a foundation for a rational recreation of Chicago.
Before I came to Chicago, or even had a thought of ever coming to the United States, I was, as a town builder, professionally familiar with Chicago’s official city plan. I had also studied the aforementioned improvement project in all its details. The heart of Mr. Burnham’s plan was the laying out of Grant Park and in connection with it a broad monumental park boulevard running West at Congress Street. Upon my arrival in Chicago I expected to see Grant Park ready and the boulevard partly finished, or at least in the process of being built. But Grant Park lay untouched and the monumental boulevard seemed to have been forgotten. The Burnham dream seemed in large part, perhaps altogether, to have met the same fate that overtakes most beautiful dreams in these days. Their realization is delayed until it is too late; or else their magnificence and beauty are so overwhelming that one loses faith in them.
The proposed boulevard is an attractive idea and the city’s beauty would have been much enhanced had it materialized. However, it was probably found to be too costly.
I am not sufficiently familiar with early Chicago conditions to form an idea of the possibility of carrying out such a boulevard project through the most central part of the city. It seems., however, that it is now too late and that the project, in. so far as it affects the loop at least, at the present
(Copyright, 1923, The Architectural & Building Press, Inc.)