Old Colony Building
- Architect
- Holabird & Roche
- Year
- 1894
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- the chicago school
Completed in 1893–94 by Holabird & Roche, the Old Colony Building at 407 S. Dearborn Street rose roughly 215 feet and briefly stood as the tallest building in Chicago. It was the first tall building anywhere to brace itself against wind loads with a system of internal portal arches, a structural solution that let Chicago School architects push office towers higher with confidence.
the building
Bracing against the wind. The Old Colony introduced portal arch wind bracing — rigid arched frames built into the structure — making it the first tall building to use this system to resist the lateral forces high-rises face in Chicago's wind. It is 17 stories and about 215 feet tall.
Offices to apartments. Built as an office building, the Old Colony was converted to apartments in 2015 and renamed the Arc at Old Colony. The remodeled units are marketed largely to college students, reflecting its spot across Dearborn Street from the Harold Washington Library.
the style
The Old Colony belongs to the Chicago School, the wave of Loop office towers of the 1880s–90s built to test how tall a structure could safely rise — the portal arch system here was one of that generation's key structural innovations.
More on Chicago Schoolthe architect
Holabird & Roche designed the Old Colony Building, completed in 1893–94 as one of Chicago's early skyscrapers.
significance
The Old Colony Building was designated a Chicago Landmark on July 7, 1978, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It is considered the first tall building to use internal portal arch wind bracing, and its exterior has appeared on screen, representing the Independent News Service offices in the TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
nearby
- Manhattan Building
- Harold Washington Library
- Fisher Building
- Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago building
- Leiter II Building
- Monadnock Building