CHICAGO | Morrison Hotel

[BVictor1]

http://www.historicchicagohotels.com/Morrison.htm

Here are a few images posted from the link above, Pre-Tower













Never Built


1959 View

[ethereal_reality]

[BVictor1]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

this building was a dank pos. and architectural insignificant. and the c.f. murphy chase tower is a master piece. no real loss here.

The outside appears not to be anything special, the the interior spaces were nice it appears.

[Chicago Shawn]

Thank You! That is the first good photo I have ever seen of it. Great find!

[ethereal_reality]

Here's a better one Chicago Shawn.

[Chicago Shawn]

Fantastic! 10,000 SSP points for you.

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by BVictor1

The outside appears not to be anything special, the the interior spaces were nice it appears.

meh... when you have interiors like the rookery and such, who needs this? this building was a fat blob. however, i read about an old chicago school building (by jenney perhaps?) that was on the block somewhere, and it always saddens me read about the insane amount of chicago school buildings that were demolished through the years. and those lesser know ones were some of the most fascinating and under-appreciated buildings in this city.

honte or someone, can you help me out with what building i'm thinking of that was on this block?

[Tom Servo]

Originally Posted by Atomic Glee

That concrete slab is what replaced it? How horrible. The Chase tower there looks like a nightmare.

have you ever been to this city?

[Patrick]

I never understood what was so great about the Chase Building, its really ugly.

[Austin55]

hmm, it's a fair trade, Morrison was great in the skyline then, now chase is.

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

have you ever been to this city?

How is this even a valid argument point? I understand, seeing a building in person helps you get a feel for it, but it's not a necessary requirement for having an opinion on a building. According to this logic, you are not qualified to talk about most of the builsings you praise/criticize, since chances are you haven't been to all those places in the world, and since some buildings aren't even built yet you cannot discuss them since you've never seen them in person.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by AdrianXSands

have you ever been to this city?

Originally Posted by Lecom

How is this even a valid argument point? I understand, seeing a building in person helps you get a feel for it, but it's not a necessary requirement for having an opinion on a building. According to this logic, you are not qualified to talk about most of the builsings you praise/criticize, since chances are you haven't been to all those places in the world, and since some buildings aren't even built yet you cannot discuss them since you've never seen them in person.

I agree, and Adrian even though your not asking me, I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I saw how it clashed with the rest of Chicago, my opinion didnt change, the only thing I like about Chase was its height, It fills in a nice space in the skyline Morrison could have never done.

[Rizzo]

Thanks for posting the bigger photo. I've been building a detailed 3d model of this one.

[ethereal_reality]

I never thought much about it......
but I always thought it said Morrison Hotel on just one side.

Looking at the photos more closely I see the sign on three of the four sides.
Is this correct?


North side.



South side. (the Morrison tower is on the right near the steeple)
LIFE photograph detail.

[ethereal_reality]

I reread the whole thread and I plainly see it is on three sides.
The tower was oriented west / I didn't realize that.

[Jibba]

Can't say I'm sad that this one is gone. I do wish that more remnants of the "old Chicago" were still in the Loop to provide some additional historical context and sense of place, but the Chase Tower is spectacular and well worth the trade. The extended tower portion was quite gawky, which makes sense as it was literally an after-thought (of course, I am presuming this: it is entirely possibly that the original cubic form was built to accommodate future vertical expansion as was the M.O. for a lot of buildings in Chicago).

[Tom In Chicago]

Originally Posted by Patrick

I agree, and Adrian even though your not asking me, I was in Chicago a few weeks ago, I saw how it clashed with the rest of Chicago, my opinion didnt change, the only thing I like about Chase was its height, It fills in a nice space in the skyline Morrison could have never done.

Not sure I understand how any building in Chicago could "clash" with one another given the eclectic nature of the skyline. . . sure the Morrison Hotel building was a nice old building, and rightly missed, but since it was demolished before I was even born, I can't really feel too sympathetic about the loss. . .

. . .

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Tom In Chicago

Not sure I understand how any building in Chicago could "clash" with one another given the eclectic nature of the skyline.

what makes the notion even more absurd is that chase plaza is a big, bold, muscular giant cut right from the mold of the 2nd chicago school. yeah, it's clad in granite instead of the steel so fond of the second-schoolers, but the bones beneath are ALL chicago, so the idea that it clashes with the city whose very design ethos at the time brought it into existence seems to be a very silly one to me.

[truedaniel]

Originally Posted by Loopy

Michael Huchence of INXS or Morrison of the Doors?
(Both a tragic lose none the less.)

[Steely Dan]

^ that's clearly jim morrison, most likely from the album artwork of the doors' "morrison hotel" album, and hence the relevance to this thread, though the morrison hotel from the album is not the one that once stood in chicago, it was located in LA i believe.