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31-672: Designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White , the Metropolitan Tower was named the Straus Building when completed in 1924. Though it was the first building in Chicago with 30 or more floors, it was never officially designated Chicago's tallest building since the Chicago Temple Building , also completed in 1924, is taller by 92 feet (28 m) but has seven fewer floors. The Straus Building and

62-520: A "Best Adaptive Reuse" award from the Friends of Downtown, a planning and urban design organization for downtown Chicago. Amenities include: 24 hour lobby and maintenance staff; on-site management staff; deeded indoor parking; Amazon package deliver lockers; contractors storage area for remodeling projects; two hotel type guest suites; workout facilities with sauna, steam, and showers; children's playroom; extra storage opportunities and imagination rooms; and

93-592: A half mile. The south end of the Magnificent Mile shopping district is less than a mile away. Dozens of fine restaurants and other eateries are in the neighborhood, and Grant Park is across the street. Metropolitan Tower appears in front of Chase Tower (Chicago) in the diagram below. 41°52′41.01″N 87°37′28.65″W  /  41.8780583°N 87.6246250°W  / 41.8780583; -87.6246250 Graham, Anderson, Probst %26 White Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W)

124-403: A richer color," and "It's fair to say that Orchestra Hall is, overall, vastly improved. The reverberation time, almost nonexistent before, is much lengthened. The strings, particularly in the lower ranges, are far more audible than was once the case, and all of the instruments resound with far more bloom, warmth, and brilliance. The sound is a good deal better in the other traditional trouble spot,

155-477: A two story event/party room with adjacent access to a rooftop garden deck including an outdoor grill and dining area for entertaining guests, with views of Millennium Park and Navy Pier Fireworks. The original owner of the Metropolitan Tower was S. W. Straus and Company, a dealer of investment bonds and one of the leading financers of major real estate in Chicago during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The tower's crown has many symbols for characteristics

186-621: Is supported by four limestone bisons. Because of this ornament, the building is sometimes referred to as the "Beehive Building." Just beneath the beehive are four carillon bells ranging in weight from 1,500 to 7,000 pounds, unused for many years until restored in 1979 for the Chicago visit of Pope John Paul II . At one time, the bells chimed the well-known Cambridge Quarters on the quarter-hours. The base has been altered from its original design: rectangular window openings replaced giant arches on Michigan Avenue and Jackson Boulevard. At one time,

217-557: The Art Institute of Chicago ; a public multi-story rotunda; Forte , a restaurant and café; and administrative offices. In June 1993, plans to significantly renovate and expand Orchestra Hall were approved and the $ 110 million project resulting in Symphony Center, completed in 1997. Designed by architect Daniel Burnham , Orchestra Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 19, 1994. It has been listed on

248-596: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO); Chicago Symphony Chorus ; Civic Orchestra of Chicago ; and the Institute for Learning, Access, and Training; Symphony Center includes the 2,522-seat Orchestra Hall , which dates from 1904; Buntrock Hall , a rehearsal and performance space named for the CSO trustee and benefactor Dean L. Buntrock ; Grainger Ballroom , an event space overlooking Michigan Avenue and

279-783: The Merchandise Mart and the Straus Building , the practice soon began to move beyond the Beaux-Arts influence of Burnham and the City Beautiful movement to the bolder, starker Art Deco style with its streamlined forms. The firm's ultimate expression of the Art Deco style was found in its design of the 1931 Field Building (later known as the La Salle Bank Building), which was a commission from

310-811: The Chicago Temple Building were the first to take advantage of the 1923 zoning ordinance; before then, no building in Chicago could be taller than 260 feet (79 m). The Metropolitan Tower was at one time called the Continental National Insurance Company Building (later Continental Center I). From 1980 to 2004 it was called the Britannica Building when that company was its tenant. This 30 story building, standing at 475 feet (145 m) in height, fronts Chicago's Michigan Avenue and Grant Park . The 40-foot (12 m) pyramid at

341-619: The National Register of Historic Places since 1978. Built in 1904, Orchestra Hall was designed by renowned Chicago architect Daniel Burnham . The new hall was specifically designed as a home for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which had previously performed in the larger Auditorium Theater . Construction began on May 1, 1904, and the first concert was given on December 14, 1904. The building has "Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall" inscribed in its façade , after

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372-475: The century progressed, the firm moved away from the classical style favored by Hering and used for the firm's earlier Beaux Arts buildings to more contemporary art deco styled work, such as that attributed to sculptor Frank Jirouch on Cleveland's Midland Building. Symphony Center Symphony Center is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago , Illinois . Home to

403-600: The company wanted to portray. The pyramid symbolized longevity and permanence and the beehive stood for industry and thrift. When first installed, the beehive also contained four directional beacons, a metaphor for the company's global reach. The pyramid is supported by the four bisons, a traditional symbol for the American West. Straus was hoping to use these symbols to instill trust in their customers, to reassure them that their investments would be handled actively and carefully by an institution that could be trusted over

434-643: The era GAP&W had specific artists that they preferred to work with. One in particular was New Yorker Henry Hering , who created the sculptured pediment for the Civic Opera House ; a variety of details for the Field Museum of Natural History , including a variation on the Erectheum porch; and the allegorical figures Day and Night for the Great Hall of the Chicago's Union Station . As

465-412: The estate of department store magnate Marshall Field. It was matched that year by Holabird and Root's equally stunning Chicago Board of Trade Building . After 1931, GAP&W for the most part stopped referencing the Beaux-Arts style. Like most of the other prominent architectural firms of the early 20th Century, GAP&W frequently used sculpture to decorate its building designs. As was the custom of

496-753: The firm captured the majority of the big commissions from 1912 to 1936, including such iconic works as the Wrigley Building , Merchandise Mart , Field Museum , Shedd Aquarium , Civic Opera House , Chicago Fed , and the former central Chicago post office . Its only close rival was the equally prolific Holabird and Root . GAP&W also created the iconic Terminal Tower in Cleveland and Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City . Anderson died in 1924, with Graham and White following just weeks apart in 1936. Surviving partner Edward M. Probst took over

527-416: The firm closed its doors in the fall of 2006. Early on, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White became known for its classical taste and the elegance of its Beaux-Arts -inspired output, which Louis Sullivan decried as a stylistic throwback but which nonetheless withstood multiple generations of critics. Those early buildings are still popular favorites today. However, starting in 1923 with the firm's plans for

558-482: The firm, assisted by his sons Marvin Probst and Edward E. Probst. After Mr. Probst's death in 1942, son Marvin G. Probst took over as firm president. Edward E. Probst left the firm about 1947. Just prior to Marvin Probst's death in 1970, the firm was sold to an employee, William R. Surman. From 1970 to 1993 William Surman was president of the firm. After his death in 1993, the practice was run by his son Robert Surman till

589-405: The high strings have not yet benefited as much as their brethren. [Supervising acoustician R. Lawrence Kirkegaard] had already begun to work on the problem after a private concert on Tuesday evening and continues to do so.", "The orchestra now has a mellow bass sound that simply didn't exist before. Bass drums, previously the source of loud, dry thwacks, have a new resonance and texture. Violins have

620-403: The historic Chapin and Gore Building , which was built in 1904. The building was designed by architectural partners Richard E. Schmidt and Hugh M. G. Garden . The building was attached to the Symphony Center campus as part of the 1997 renovation. Orchestra Hall was also used as a movie theater during the 1910s, to maintain income during the summer months, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

651-530: The long term. Ironically, the firm failed during the Great Depression and closed fewer than ten years after lighting the beacon. The Metropolitan Tower is located a block from the entrance to the Art Institute and is within two blocks of stations for all downtown CTA train lines. The Symphony Center , Millennium Park , Harold Washington Library , and the Lake Michigan shore are within

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682-421: The main floor beneath the balcony overhang, superb in the lower balcony and altogether glorious in the gallery." In a review of a piano recital, not an orchestral concert, Chicago Tribune music critic John von Rhein wrote "...everything registered with the impact of the old hall, only better. There was more warmth, more space, around the keyboard. Similar reports came from listeners in the gallery.". However,

713-568: The orchestra's first music director who died less than a month after his conducting debut there. The names Bach , Mozart , Beethoven , Schubert , and Wagner are inscribed above the ballroom windows on the façade. From 1907 through 1996 the ninth-floor penthouse of the building served as the home of the Cliff Dwellers Club , with interior architecture by Howard Van Doren Shaw and the first significant mural of John Warner Norton . The administrative offices are located within

744-491: The resulting practice. The firm also employed Victor Andre Matteson . Graham, Anderson, Probst & White was the largest architectural firm under one roof during the first half of the twentieth century. The firm's importance to Chicago's architectural legacy cannot be overstated, nor can its connection to Burnham. The firm was headquartered in Burnham's own Railway Exchange Building . In part from its connection to Burnham,

775-552: The same critic also noted shortly after the renovation "As of now, the low end has been dramatically enhanced, perhaps too much so. The lower strings and lower brass are going to have to modify their sound output to the new sensitivities of the acoustics. In many ways, then, Orchestra Hall is a work in progress. The coming weeks and months will require adjustments from players and audience members alike. Lawrence Kirkegaard ... said he and his associates were 'intensively involved' in minor adjustments last week and will continue to tinker with

806-490: The thirtieth floor was the Straus Tower Observatory, which was open to the public for viewing the city. The original main entrance was a pair of elaborately carved bronze doors set in a marble portal flanked by bas-reliefs and used to be in the center of the east side, through the largest of the archways. In 2007, the building was converted into 234 condominium units. In 2009, the Metropolitan Tower won

837-475: The top of the building (which Schulze & Harrington, authors of Chicago's Famous Buildings , compare with the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus ), with its new zinc-coated stainless steel sheathing, is peaked by a 20-foot (6 m) glass "beehive" ornament containing a blue glass box filled with six 1000-watt lightbulbs which emits a deep blue light, a prominent feature of Chicago's nighttime skyline . The beehive

868-449: The upper registers. Reviews at the time noted "[the hall] sounded altogether new, with a depth and spaciousness never before heard here. ... The low strings, especially, had a new warmth and solidity, and the whole bass and baritonal range of the orchestra provided a firmer basis and a mellower foil for the sound above it, which has always been brash and brilliant. ... Not that everything is perfect. High frequencies can still sound glassy, and

899-589: Was a Chicago architectural firm that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through Daniel Burnham 's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham , and Burnham's sons, Hubert Burnham and Daniel Burnham Jr . In 1917, the Burnhams left to form their own practice, which eventually became Burnham Brothers, and Graham and the remaining members of Graham, Burnham & Co. – Graham, (William) Peirce Anderson, Edward Mathias Probst, and Howard Judson White – formed

930-524: Was held in Chicago simultaneous to the 2012 Chicago Summit . Sub-optimal acoustics within Orchestra Hall have been an ongoing concern throughout its history, and have been adjusted in major overhauls of the main hall in both the late 1960s and as part of the Symphony Center transformation between 1995 and 1997. Critical reaction is that the 1995–1997 acoustical revamp was largely successful, though with room for further improvement, particularly in

961-677: Was playing at the Ravinia Festival . Lectures and other programs were held at Orchestra Hall in with speakers including Harry Houdini , Richard E. Byrd , Amelia Earhart , Bertrand Russell and Orson Welles . In 2008 the venue hosted the 2008 Green National Convention alongside the Palmer House Hilton . In 2012 the venue hosted the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates alongside the UIC Pavilion . This

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