Promontory Apartments

The Promontory Apartments is an International Style skyscraper designed between 1946 and 1947 by Mies van der Rohe, and built between 1947 and 1949 in Chicago, IL.

Its precise street address is 5530–5532 South Shore Dr., Chicago, IL. You can also find it on the map here.

The Promontory Apartments is a structure of significant importance both for the city of Chicago and the United States as a nation. The building embodies the distinctive characteristic features of the time in which it was built and the International Style style. Because of that, the Promontory Apartments was officially included in the National Register of Historic Places on November 21^st 1996.

This was the first skyscraper Mies actually got built, after having designed some concepts early in his career which were never executed.

As in those early skyscraper concepts, Mies proposed a steel and glass curtain wall facade with floor-to-ceiling windows. The developer did not approve this idea for this project, and Mies would have to wait until 900-910 North Lake Shore to see his idea realized, ironically, working with the same developer.

Mies van der Rohe was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

But that's not all, there was also a whole team of architects involved, which included: Holsman, Klekamp & Taylor, and Pace Associates.

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 Promontory Apartments a reality:

• Frank Kornacker in charge of Structural Engineering
• Peter Hamlin Construction Company as the Main Contractor
• Haughton Elevator Co. as the company in charge of the elevators system
• Herbert Greenwald as the Main Developer

The Promontory Apartments can be categorized as an International Style building.

The Promontory Apartments was designed in 1946. By 1946 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 Promontory Apartments was not well received by everyone at the time.

The Promontory Apartments uses a frame structure made of concrete columns and beams.

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 window wall system.

Window wall systems are installed between floor slabs, allowing the edge of the slabs to be visible from the exterior (unlike curtain walls).

Window walls are easier to install than curtain walls, often resulting in reduced construction time and cost. However, the exposed edge of the slabs are weak points in terms of thermal insulation and needs to be carefully detailed to avoid thermal bridging and potential condensation issues

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features an exposed concrete structure with low brick spandrels and panoramic windows. The bricks are light-colored and the concrete structure is painted to match the bricks, giving the building a overall light-cream color.