Above: Frank Lloyd Wright in the studio examining a sketch for the mile high ‘Illinois Tower’, 1956.
In 1956, Wright was asked to design a mile-high television tower. Believing a mile-high tower for television transmission alone was a wasted opportunity, he responded with a mile-high skyscraper. The conceptual elevation sketch for the proposed ‘Illinois Tower’ shows a rapier-like building growing narrower as it rises from a tripod base. To explain the reason for the taper and the tripod, Wright said, “Does a church steeple sway in the wind? No, because the wind has no pressure on the top. That is why I made it the shape that it is. It is really a steeple with no wind pressure at the top, and as it comes down, even the shape of it defies wind pressure because you notice that it is a tetrahedron in form. It is really a tripod. Now the tripod is the surest form of resistance against outside pressure from the side because every pressure on every side is felt by the other sides and resisted by them altogether as a ring from whichever direction the wind comes, the two other sides stand braced against it. Towers have always been erected by humankind – it seems to gratify humanity’s ambition somehow and they are beautiful and picturesque.”
Illustration for Frank Lloyd Wright’s impossibly tall Illinois Tower.
The mile high Illinois Tower, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1956 but never built. Click on image for full view.
With a planned total rentable area of 6,000,000 square feet the tower would be occupied by approximately 100,000 people daily and allow for parking for 15,000 cars as well as 100 helicopters. Details were carefully considered, such as the foundation taproot that plunges into bedrock like the handle of a sword. The floors are cantilevered from a central core, as with other towers of Wright’s design, but in this case for further stability cables stretch down to the outer edges of the tower, as in suspension bridges. The exterior wall surfaces are set well back beneath over-hanging visors for protection against the sun and the elements. The elevators would be vertical “trains” five cars tall, run on ratchets like a cog railway, and atomic powered.
For a man who disliked crowded cities the Illinois Tower seems an unlikely project for the man. Wright believed, however, that going up allowed for more green space as well as eased up traffic and overall urban density. But despite Wright’s concerted efforts the building did not get past the planning stages. He believed his mile high tower would work. But that is the obstacle face by all those who dare dream is reality, and while fantastic in concept a 5000 foot tower could not to be.
Frank Lloyd Wright with an illustration on the mile high ‘Illinois Tower’, 1956.
Frank Lloyd Wright was not the only architect who planned for a super high rise for Chicago. While not even close to the proposed 5000 feet planned by Wright, at 2000 feet (610 m) each the Chicago Spire (2005) and the tower for 7 South Dearborn (1999) were both quite ambitious in their own right.
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Rendering for the 2,000 ft tall Chicago Spire. Construction began in 2007 but never got past the foundation.
A large hole in the ground was all that became of the 2,000 ft tall Chicago Spire.
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Model for the proposed 200o ft. 7 South Dearborn tower. It did not get past the planning stages.
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