Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architects; American, founded 1936
Bruce J. Graham, designer; American, (1925–2010)
Inland Steel Building: Model of Final Design
INV-1589
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architects; American, founded 1936
Bruce J. Graham, designer; American, (1925–2010)c. 1954/55
Inland Steel Building: Model of Final Design
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, architects; American, founded 1936 Bruce J. Graham, designer; American, (1925–2010) →20th Centuryarchitectural modelarchitecture
Date
c. 1954/55
Medium
Mixed media model
Dimensions
Vitrine: 122.5 × 64.5 × 82 cm (48 1/4 × 25 3/8 × 32 1/4 in.); Base: 60 × 51 × 69 cm (23 5/8 × 20 1/8 × 27 1/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Ryerson Tull, Inc., Chicago
As one of the first two high-rise buildings constructed in downtown Chicago after the Great Depression, this model represents part of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill’s push to reimagine the corporate office building, along with the Lever House in New York. The architects separated the functions of the Inland Steel Building into two towers: a 19-story office block and a 25-story service unit. As a result, the floor plans have no interior columns or partitions, allowing maximum flexibility and a bright new image of the modern office, with a green tinted-glass curtain wall and bright stainless-steel mullions.
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