Six North Michigan Avenue in Chicago

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Six North Michigan Avenue

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Formerly:	The Tower Building
Formerly:	Montgomery Ward Headquarters

6 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, The Loop 60602 United StatesPrint this page   •   Share this page   •   Map This

Not quite the building it once was, Six North Michigan Avenue is still an essential part of Chicago's beloved Michigan Avenue cliff. At first glance it appears to be any of a dozen interchangeable buildings from the South Loop, but upon closer inspection, it has some merit. In spite of being more than one hundred years old, Six North Michigan retains some of its stately features. A tall central shaft with three columns of wide windows are flanked by two lesser wings of narrower windows. The arrangement fools the eye into thinking the north and south portions are set back from the main facade.

But this structure isn't without its problems. The top of the building sports a penthouse structure which looks more than just unfinished -- it looks positively abandoned. Today's state of affairs is the result of mistakes of the past. The top of this building used to support a ten-story tower, topped with a three-story pyramid, a temple, and a weather vane in the shape of the female form. Now that is the way the headquarters of a merchant prince should look. at the time it still sported its glorious tower, it was the headquarters of the Montgomery Ward company; a major player in the American Midwest until the late 20th century. The building was erected to enhance the stature of the company, and invoke a sense of trust in its customers. As the Chicago Tribune noted, people from the heartland were worried about this new-fangled mail order catalog scheme, and the building helped calm fears that they would send their money away and get nothing in return. But as Ward's fortunes would later crumble, the tower had to be taken down for safety reasons. It was disassembled in 1947, emasculating this structure and transforming it into architectural mediocrity.

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There are two comments.

  And to think, Richard Schmidt was about 3o years old when he designed this building! When the building opened it was ridiculed by Louis Sullivan as being a "New York" style building with its tower and weather vane. I believe the tower removal helped the overall look of the building. Now that the crown has been removed you can easily see its Chicago style.

Robert Herbst - Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 @ 12:03pm  

  Wow, I never knew that this bulding was buit in 1898.This poor building has goe through a lot! yet it still looks smart!

kirby cruz - Thursday, December 7th, 2006 @ 8:28pm