CHICAGO l Beacon of Progress l 1,500 FT / 457 M l circa 1900 | NEVER BUILT - Page 2

Chicago103 · #21 Posted **Mar 26, 2009, 9:17 PM**

The map shows that it would have basically been built on top of Wooded Island.

Ottawade · #22 Posted **Apr 28, 2009, 2:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CGII

It's so bloody terrifying, like a temple to industrialism.

I'm not sure what to make of it. It's just so fucking hardcore imposing (a Chicago trademark) but I feel like it is so intense and huge that it is almost a caricature of the capitalism it is trying to memorialize.

As much as I actually like the design the "beacon of progress" giving nods to human civilization through the ages this building is so dark, brooding and imposing.

All I can think of imaging myself walking up to its steps is the entrance to the corporate institution in the film Brazil...

Untitled · #23 Posted **May 31, 2009, 8:57 PM**

When we, as Americans, embrace evil as a foreign policy, then we'll build it.

I'm thinking 20 years.

Mr Downtown · #24 Posted **May 31, 2009, 9:09 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

However, unless he had a really clever foundation engineered, there is no way this could have been built, would have sunk 120' into the muck in a matter of months if it didn't fall over first...

Couldn't he just have excavated 40 feet to get to hardpan, and laid the first course there? The problem Jenney and Sullivan had with the Manhattan and the Auditorium was that there were other buildings adjacent. Not a problem in a big park.

Lecom · #25 Posted **Aug 20, 2009, 2:57 PM**

Imagine if this was built, as well as the USSR's Palace of the Soviets. Imagine how the symbolism of the Cold War would've changed, at least visually.

JDRCRASH · #26 Posted **Aug 21, 2009, 3:16 PM**

Then it would be a battle of skyscrapers, not bombs.

Lecom · #27 Posted **Aug 21, 2009, 3:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

Then it would be a battle of skyscrapers, not bombs.

Well, if the Cold War era penis envy manifested itself in a highrise race rather than an arms race, the 20th century would've been a much cooler time.

philvia · #28 Posted **Aug 25, 2009, 6:32 PM**

this would have been pretty awesome.

GFW · #29 Posted **Sep 13, 2009, 7:27 PM**

Lol, if this were built then they would probably need to make the antenna ontop of the ESB taller to beat it.

SkyscrapersOfNewYork · #30 Posted **Sep 30, 2009, 8:05 PM**

ehhhhh i really dont like it it looks like a huge ancient temple....definately not for chicago...

new.slang · #31 Posted **Sep 30, 2009, 8:22 PM**

would have been sick...any idea what the inside would have been like?
Would it be just a giants room with a series of elevators/and or stair cases to the top?
someone should photoshop the building into the current skyline haha

ChicagoChicago · #32 Posted **Dec 31, 2009, 5:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nowhereman1280

^^^ Exactly why it should have been built, the views from that height and location would be absolutely SICK. Plus we would have had the WTB for like 100+ years and the Sears probably would have been made taller to unseat this beast.

However, unless he had a really clever foundation engineered, there is no way this could have been built, would have sunk 120' into the muck in a matter of months if it didn't fall over first...

Good point! Jackson Park is a swamp. They had enough trouble just getting the temporary structures in place for the fair. I can't imagine what a 1500 ft stone monolith would do in that stuff...

Chicago103 · #33 Posted **Jan 5, 2010, 7:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaron38

A 1500' tall Egyptian monolith in Chicago? That would've been weird. It looks so dark and forbidding. It doesn't look like a beacon but a sacrificial temple.

Its a sacrificial temple for NIMBYS.