Free previewStop 4 of Chicago Christmas Walk: Magnificent Mile Lights to the Christkindlmarket
The Contest That Lost to Second Place
You're outside Tribune Tower, at 435 North Michigan Avenue, the pale stone skyscraper that was home to the Chicago Tribune. Tip your head all the way back and find the top. That ring of stone buttresses, rising like a crown with no spire, is where this story ends.
In 1922 the Tribune was turning 75, and its owners, Robert R. McCormick and his cousin Joseph Patterson, wanted a new headquarters. So they threw open a contest to the whole world. The prize money totaled $100,000, with $50,000 for first place, and the brief was modest: design "the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world."
More than 260 entries poured in. Walter Gropius sent one. So did Adolf Loos. And somebody submitted a tower surmounted by a Mount Rushmore-like head of an American Indian.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 4 of Chicago Christmas Walk: Magnificent Mile Lights to the Christkindlmarket (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
