Ludington Building
- Architect
- William LeBaron Jenney
- Year
- 1891
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- the chicago school
The Ludington Building at 1104 S. Wabash Avenue is the oldest surviving steel-frame building in Chicago, designed by William Le Baron Jenney and commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company in 1891. Jenney, whose structural experiments helped invent the skyscraper, built it as an early demonstration of what a full steel skeleton could support.
the building
Oldest of its kind. The Ludington is the oldest surviving steel-frame structure in Chicago, a direct link back to the earliest experiments in skeletal construction that made the skyscraper possible.
A publisher's building. Mary Ludington Barnes commissioned the building for the American Book Company, a publishing firm; it carries the Ludington family name. It is now one of twenty buildings that make up the campus of Columbia College Chicago.
the style
The Ludington belongs to the Chicago School generation of buildings that used a true steel skeleton, rather than load-bearing masonry, to carry the structure's weight — the innovation the style is best known for.
More on Chicago Schoolthe architect
William Le Baron Jenney was among the pioneering architects of the skyscraper era; the Ludington Building, commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company, is one of his surviving steel-frame designs.
significance
The Ludington Building was named a Chicago Landmark on June 10, 1996, and added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1980.
nearby
- Crane Company Building
- Johnson Publishing Company Building
- Dearborn Station
- Lakeside Press Building
- Wholesale Furniture Exposition Building
- Blackstone Hotel