Free previewStop 5 of Chicago Loop Architecture Walking Tour
The Building That Grew Downward First
You're on State Street at the corner of Washington, deep in the Loop, and the slim white tower in front of you is the Reliance Building. It's small next to its neighbors. Look at its face: it's almost all glass, stacked in bay windows that push out from the wall, framed in thin strips of white glazed terra-cotta. It looks like it could have gone up last century. It opened in 1895.
The story starts with a stubborn problem. In 1880, a man named William Ellery Hale bought this lot. Hale had founded the Hale Elevator Company, which made the hydraulic elevators that tall buildings needed, so you can guess what he wanted here: something tall. But the lot already held a four-story bank building, one of the few downtown offices to partly survive the Great Fire of 1871. And its tenants didn't want to leave.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 5 of Chicago Loop Architecture Walking Tour (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
