Pile Driven
[Washington Block (1873) Frederick & Edward Baumann, architects /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
It's kind of hard to find, let alone see, standing in the shadow of the el tracks and
the towering buildings that hover over it, but there it sits, the Washington Block, a rare survivor of Chicago's immediate post-Fire building boom.
[Washington Block, 40 N. Wells Street, Chicago /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Built in 1873 and designed by brothers Frederick and Edward Baumann, the building was
typical for its time - nicely decorated, and not too tall since this was the era before the passenger elevator and no one wanted to climb any more stairs than they had to to get to work. Yet there is something very unique about this structure that isn't easy to see, because it's buried in the basement.
[Washington Block, corner entrance, October 7, 2010 /Images & Artwork: designslinger]
Most of downtown Chicago is made up of very squishy, marshy soil, not the best
condition for building a tall heavy building. Frederick Baumann was as interested in building as tall as possible and he came up with an idea that would allow buildings to go beyond the usual 5 or 6 stories, a new foundation system. He introduced this ground breaking (no pun intended) theory in the Washington Block. His idea was that if each vertical structural element of a building was supported by its own foundation, the weight would be distributed more evenly, you could build taller, and the building wouldn't sink under the increased tonnage. Baumann's system was used in erecting city's first skyscrapers and by 1881 buildings were reaching for the sky at 10 stories high. The experiment in the Block's basement worked wonderfully. The only problem was that the higher up you went the more the weight increased and the base of the foundation pad had to grow in size to hold everything up. As architects went from 10 to 13 stories Baumann's system took up so much basement space there was no room left over for storage or the much needed boiler, which supplied the building's heat.
As buildings grew taller and Frederick's theories were no longer useful, his idea
fell out of favor. But he continued to fight the good fight and was a very active participant in boards and commissions that studied tall construction and called for safer building codes. He was quite the controversial figure in his fight to have the County Building's foundation reconstructed and shorn-up before the structure collapsed under its own weight. As time progressed, the old Washington Block was left behind in the dust of new theories about pile driven foundations which allowed buildings to climb higher than Baumann could have ever imagined. His little building probably survived because of its small lot size and tight relationship with the el tracks, which as you can imagine, is a hard sell to tenants and real estate developers. But at 137-years-old, and after a recent sprucing up, Baumann's hidden treasure has a majesty all its own.
See another post-Fire survivor at: Building Boom.
Posted by designslinger at 11/15/2010 4:19 AM 
Categories: Architecture, History, Architects, Preservation
Tags: Chicago Loop Frederick Baumann Edward Baumann commercial architecture
Categories: Architecture, History, Architects, Preservation
Tags: Chicago Loop Frederick Baumann Edward Baumann commercial architecture
Thanks so much for this post! For years I worked one block away and saw it multiple times every day. I too was happy to see its recent rescue. Charming, as they say in real estate ...
Charming indeed. And thanks for staying in touch. It was nice to hear from you.