Ferdinand Peck, a Chicago businessman, had incorporated…
April 1887 CE
Ferdinand Peck, a Chicago businessman, had incorporated the Chicago Auditorium Association in December 1886 to develop what he wants to be the world's largest, grandest, most expensive theater that will rival such institutions as the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
He is said to have wanted to make high culture accessible to the working classes of Chicago.
The building is to include an office block and a first class hotel.
Peck persuades many Chicago business tycoons to go on board with him, including Marshall Field, Edson Keith, Martin Ryerson, and George Pullman.
The association hires the renowned architectural firm of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan to design the building.
At the time, a young Frank Lloyd Wright is employed at the firm as draftsman, and he may have contributed to the design.
When completed, the Auditorium Building will be a marvel of acoustic engineering and a showcase for Sullivan’s Celtic-inspired designs.
Images
The Auditorium Building (Roosevelt University) was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan (1886–90). Photo taken 30 June 2012, by Victorgrigas)
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Northern North America
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