Mather Tower

Mather Tower in 2016

333 North Michigan, 360 North Michigan, Mather Tower and 35 East Wacker

Mather Tower (later Lincoln Tower, as designated on the Michigan–Wacker Historic District roster; now identified primarily by its address) is a Neo-Gothic, terra cotta-clad high-rise structure in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located at 75 East Wacker Drive in the downtown "loop" area, adjacent to the Chicago River.

The 521-foot-high building is sometimes called "The Inverted Spyglass" by Chicagoans due to its highly unusual design, a 21-story octagonal tower atop a more conventional 20-story rectangular "box." Briefly the tallest building in Chicago at the time of its completion in 1928, it remains the city's most slender high-rise structure at only 100 by 65 feet at its base. The interior space within the upper octagonal spire contains the least square footage per floor of any Chicago skyscraper.^[1]

It was designed by Herbert Hugh Riddle (1875–1939), the architect of the Chicago Theological Seminary,^[2] as headquarters for the Mather Stock Car Company, a builder of rail cars for transporting livestock. Its design was greatly influenced by the pioneering Chicago Zoning Ordinance of 1923, which placed no limit on the height of new buildings as long as the surface area of the structure's uppermost floor did not exceed 25% of its footprint. This resulted in a multitude of tall, slender, "setback" towers, of which the Mather is an extreme and unusual example. The top floor of the octagonal spire has only 280 square feet (26 m²) of floor space.^[2]

Mather Company's founder, Alonzo Mather (a descendent of Cotton Mather) is said to be responsible for a number of the building's distinctive design features, including the octagonal tower.^[2] Initial plans called for construction of a second, identical building on North Michigan Avenue, behind the Mather and connected to it by a ground-floor arcade, but onset of the Great Depression in 1929 forced its cancellation.^[2]

By the 1990s the building had fallen into significant disrepair. In 2000 the 4-story "cupola" at the top of the building was demolished because of structural deterioration and safety concerns, after chunks of terra cotta began falling from the facade.^[3] Damage was sufficiently extensive that consideration was given to dismantling the remaining 17 stories of the octagonal spire as well.^[1]

In 2000 Masterworks Development Corporation purchased the structure and undertook a complete restoration. In November 2002, the final phase of the project was initiated when a helicopter lifted the steel framework for a new cupola from a river barge to the top of the tower.^[4]

The lower, rectangular portion of the building currently houses the River Hotel, while the octagonal upper stories are occupied by a branch of the Club Quarters chain of membership corporate accommodations.

Mather Tower was designated a Chicago Historic Landmark in 2001,^[5] and in 2006 it received a National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.^[6]

References

1 2 The Mather Tower. Essential American Architecture. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
1 2 3 4 McBrien, Judith Paine. Pocket Guide to Chicago Architecture. (Norton, 2004). ISBN 0-393-73155-3. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
↑ Construction Begins on Mather Tower Cupola. Emporis Retrieved 2010-08-09.
↑ Mather Tower image compilation. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
↑ "Mather Tower". Chicago Landmarks. City of Chicago. 2003. Retrieved 2007-11-23.
↑ "National Trust Presents National Preservation Honor Award to Mather Tower in Chicago" (Press release). National Trust for Historic Preservation. 2006-11-02. Retrieved 2006-11-06.

External links

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Selected towers with 20 or more floors	35 East Wacker 55 East Erie Street 77 West Wacker Drive 111 South Wacker Drive 155 North Wacker 181 West Madison Street 311 South Wacker Drive 330 North Wabash 333 North Michigan 333 Wacker Drive 340 on the Park 401 East Ontario 500 West Madison 860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments 900 North Michigan 1700 East 56th Street ABN AMRO Plaza Allerton Hotel Aqua Bilandic Building Blackstone Hotel Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower Boeing International Headquarters Carbide & Carbon Building The Chandler Chase Tower Chicago Board of Trade Building Chicago Place Chicago Temple Building City Hall Square Building Civic Opera House Coast at Lakeshore East CNA Center Crain Communications Building Dirksen Federal Building Field Building Fisher Building FOUR40 Four Seasons Hotel Chicago Grant Thornton Tower Harbor Point Hilton Chicago Home Insurance Building Hyatt Center James R. Thompson Center Joffrey Tower Kluczynski Federal Building Lake Point Tower The Lancaster LaSalle-Wacker Building Legacy Tower Leo Burnett Building London Guarantee Building Marina City Masonic Temple Mather Tower Metropolitan Tower Montauk Building NBC Tower Olympia Centre One Magnificent Mile One Museum Park One North LaSalle One North Wacker One Prudential Plaza Outer Drive East Palmer House Hotel Palmolive Building Park Tower The Parkshore Peoples Gas Building Pittsfield Building Plaza 440 Powhatan Apartments The Regatta Regents Park Richard J. Daley Center River East Center Roanoke Building and Tower The Shoreham Skybridge The Buckingham The Fordham The Heritage at Millennium Park The Grant The Pinnacle Three First National Plaza The Tides Time-Life Building Tribune Tower Virgin Hotels Chicago Waldorf Astoria Chicago Water Tower Place Wrigley Building

Chicago Landmark skyscrapers with 12 or more floors	300 West Adams Building The Arc at Old Colony Auditorium Building Brooks Building Bryn Mawr Apartment Hotel Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building Chicago Building Gage Group Buildings Heyworth Building Hilliard Towers Apartments Inland Steel Building Manhattan Building Marquette Building Marshall Field and Company Building Monadnock Building Mundelein College Skyscraper Building New York Life Insurance Building Reliance Building Rookery Building

See also	Architecture Art Deco Chicago City Hall Chicago School Tallest buildings Washington Block

Chicago Landmark skyscrapers

National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places, Chicago Landmark	The Arc at Old Colony Auditorium Building Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building Chicago Board of Trade Building Fisher Building Manhattan Building Marquette Building Marshall Field and Company Building Monadnock Building Reliance Building Rookery Building

National Register of Historic Places, Chicago Landmark	860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments Gage Group Buildings Mundelein College Skyscraper Building One North LaSalle Palmolive Building Renaissance Blackstone Hotel Roanoke Building and Tower

Chicago Landmark	330 North Wabash 333 North Michigan 35 East Wacker Allerton Hotel Brooks Building Bryn Mawr Apartment Hotel Carbide & Carbon Building Chicago Building Civic Opera House Heyworth Building Inland Steel Building London Guarantee Building Mather Tower New York Life Insurance Building The Palmer House Hilton Powhatan Apartments Pittsfield Building Richard J. Daley Center Tribune Tower Virgin Hotels Chicago

See also	Washington Block

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Coordinates: 41°53′16″N 87°37′31″W / 41.8877°N 87.6254°W / 41.8877; -87.6254

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