Chase Tower

The Chase Tower is an International Style skyscraper designed by Charles Murphy, in association with Perkins and Will, and built between 1964 and 1969 in Chicago, IL.

Chase Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• One First National Bank between 1969 and 1998.
• One First National Plaza between 1969 and 1998.
• Bank One Tower between 1998 and 2005.
• Chase Tower from 2005 until this day.

Its precise street address is 10 S Dearborn St, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

The project takes up the entire block, although the building doesn't. The project included a public plaza to go with the building from the very begining, just like the Seagram Building did a few years earlier in New York. In this particular case the plaza sunks beneath the street level, creating a more elaborate entrance to the building.

Charles Murphy was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with Perkins and Will. But there was also one other architect involved, as far as we know. We are talking about Stanislaw Z. Gladych.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the Chase Tower a reality:

• Perkins+Will in charge of Structural Engineering
• First National Bank of Chicago as the Main Developer
• Marc Chagall as the collaborating Artist

The Chase Tower can be categorized as an International Style building.

The Chase Tower was completed in 1969. By 1969 the International Style movement had already left its early days behind and could be considered a mature movement, which does not mean it was loved and accepted by everyone, on the contrary. The International Style was accepted by the architecture community way before it was by the general public, and it is therefore likely that the Chase Tower was not well received by everyone at the time.

The Chase Tower uses a frame structure made of steel columns and slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

The facade uses a window wall system, which by itself is non-load-bearing. However, in this case, the facade is technically load-bearing, since there are structural elements that have been integrated into it, adirectly influencing the facade’s design.

Window walls are easier to install than curtain walls, often resulting in reduced construction time and cost. However, the exposed edge of the slabs, and in this case other structura elements too, are weak points in terms of thermal insulation. These areas need to be carefully detailed to prevent thermal bridging and potential condensation issues.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features a sloping silhouette that sets the building apart from all its squared neighbors. The sloping facades are vertically divided by 8 massive structural pillars clad in a light-grey colored marble, which run all the way up to the top of the building.