Fireproofing the Steel Birdcage
Steel Frame
Fireproofing the Steel Birdcage
Steel Frame
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Chicago Daily Tribune, January 31, 1897.
Not everyone was thrilled by the idea of heading skyward.
“It is none too early to call public attention to the danger incurred in the multiplication of these lofty buildings. No city has indulged its fancy for this kind of structure to so great an extent as has Chicago…As it is known that the foundation of that city is a crust sixteen feet thick, the alarm as to the result of constantly increasing the weight on this crust is only natural. The last point of resistance must be reached soon…”
Chicago Daily Tribune, October 18, 1891
“As regards the unhealthiness of continuous series of excessively high buildings…dwellers in Chicago need all of [the sunlight] they can get, and the streets and alleys ought to have the benefit of its disinfecting influences…To shut off the sunbeams from the earth is to encourage the bacteria, to breed fevers, to sap vitality, and to make men and women pale cellar plants.”
Chicago Daily Tribune, October 15, 1891
© John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
