Commonwealth Promenade Apartments

The Commonwealth Promenade Apartments is an International Style skyscraper designed by Mies van der Rohe, in association with Friedman, Alschuler & Sincere, and built between 1953 and 1956 in Chicago, IL.

Commonwealth Promenade Apartments is not the only name you might know this building by though. The building is, or has also been known as Commonwealth Plaza East.

Its precise street address is 330 West Diversey Parkway, Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

The Commonwealth Promenade Apartments consists of two 27-story apartment towers. The original project planned for four towers, but only the southern pair was completed.

Mies van der Rohe was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design, in association with Friedman, Alschuler & Sincere.

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 at the very least we know that there was one other part involved, that was Herbert Greenwald as the Main Developer.

The Commonwealth Promenade Apartments can be categorized as an International Style building.

The Commonwealth Promenade Apartments was completed in 1956. By 1956 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 Commonwealth Promenade Apartments was not well received by everyone at the time.

The Commonwealth Promenade Apartments uses a frame structure made of concrete/steel columns and concrete 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 non-load bearing curtain wall system. This means the curtain wall modules are anchored to the building's structural frame, typically by being attached to the edge of the floor slabs. The curtain wall system connects to the slabs using brackets, anchors, and mullions, which transfer the loads imposed by wind and temperature changes, to the building's primary structural elements.

This setup allows the curtain wall to accommodate differential movement between the facade and the structural frame, such as thermal expansion, floor deflection, or sway from wind forces. This system's integration with the slab edges also allows for continuous insulation and weatherproofing layers.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features an aluminum and tinted glass skin. Each module is composed of two panes, a fixed glass at the top and a pivoting pane at the bottom to facilitate ventilation. This pane also included a built-in mosquito screen.

The ground floor, consisting of two levels, steps back from the aluminum-clad structural columns, creating an open gallery before the glazing that encloses the foyer. Access is provided through two revolving doors with aluminum frames .