Building at 320 West Oakdale Avenue
- Style
- International Style
- City
- Chicago, IL
The building at 320 West Oakdale is a 21-story International Style apartment tower designed, built, and developed by Milton M. Schwartz — his first major project, which gave him full creative control. Raised during Chicago's 1950s–60s apartment boom, it was intended as luxury housing for the city's elite and was one of the first all-glass apartment buildings in Chicago to be completely air conditioned.
the building
Three-way windows. Units were designed with windows facing three or four directions, and interior rooms were laid out to resemble single-story ranch houses rather than typical stacked apartments.
the style
Stark and repetitive in its glass-and-steel facade, the building was held up in a 1955 Architectural Forum article on new Chicago apartments as a strong example of the International Style, compared favorably there to nearby work by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
More on International Stylethe architect
Milton M. Schwartz served as the building's architect, contractor, and developer — his first major design, and one on which he had complete creative control over every decision.
significance
Added to the National Register of Historic Places, with the designation recognized on April 23, 2013.
nearby
- Brewster Apartments
- Elks National Memorial Headquarters Building
- Francis J. Dewes House
- Theurer-Wrigley House
- Building at 2440 N. Lakeview Avenue
- Temple Sholom