Chicago Mather Tower #1 is a photograph by Chicago In Photographs which was uploaded on September 18th, 2020.
Chicago Mather Tower #1
Chicago – Mather Tower (Color)
This is a photograph of Mather Tower which I took in 2014. As of 2020, this particular view will no longer be... more
Title
Chicago Mather Tower #1
Artist
Chicago In Photographs
Medium
Photograph - Fine Art Print
Description
Chicago – Mather Tower (Color)
This is a photograph of Mather Tower which I took in 2014. As of 2020, this particular view will no longer be available due to the new construction of 300 North Michigan Avenue that will block this view.
Here are a couple of outtakes from the City of Chicago Landmark Designation Report on the Mather Tower.
Mather Tower is Chicago’s most slender skyscraper, a Jazz silhouette against the city’s skyline. Richly clad in stylized Gothic terra cotta, Mather is one of Chicago’s best “Modernistic” skyscrapers, combining modern form with lush historic ornament both in its exterior and interior. It reflects Chicago’s 1920’s obsession with height, encouraged by the 1923 Chicago Zoning Ordinance which called for tall, slender, “setback” towers.
Mather Tower was commissioned in 1926 as a speculative office building, envisioned by developer and businessman Alonzo C. Mather (1848-1930) to be part of a set of twin towers that would make a bold urban statement at the north “entrance” to the Loop. While its twin on North Michigan Avenue was never built, Mather Tower became one of about two dozen Chicago skyscrapers of the era that were built partly as the result of the building boom fueled by post World War I expansion.
In the Century of Progress Guide to Chicago, written for visitors to the world’s fair in 1933, referred to Mather Tower as “the needle skyscraper” and as the most photographed building in Chicago. Well, here we are in 2020 and I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have personally photographed it. :)
All proceeds will be donated to Chicago's Cornerstone Community Outreach in honor of photographer Richard Cleis, 1965-2021.
Uploaded
September 18th, 2020
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