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The trend towards municipal parking in North American cities began around 1950, and can be regarded as an effect of postwar prosperity and increasing automobile use. Off-street parking, which until this time had been a private enterprise, was likely taken on by cities as an extension of and a supplement to their on-street parking programs. The parking meter was invented in 1935, allowing cities a form of control over the problem of the parked car. The common planning solution called for off-street parking, in which cars parked for longer durations would free up on-street parking for short-term users. It is likely that municipal parking garages would have been built in the early 1930’s, at least in Chicago. However, the Great Depression and World War II postponed the arrival of these structures until after the war. 
 Left image: Architectural Record. Right image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. From the point of view of a city government, the parking problem was one which they had already begun to address, and the multi story garage was simply another method in which to, as an article on Chicago’s garages refers to it, “attack” the problem. There is no clear-cut yes or no answer as to whether or not this was effective. It could be said that the solution to one problem led to another problem entirely. However, the tangible results of Chicago’s attack on the parking problem were nine garages which, in true Chicago form, raised the typology to a new architectural level. Contrary to municipal parking garages built in most other North American cities, which are for the most part undistinguished, Chicago erected Modernist monuments to the automobile. Rather than hide vehicles behind a classically inspired facade, as was often the case prior, Chicago’s municipal garages put the vehicle on display. FACILITY № 1 Address: 11 W. Wacker Type: Lift Capacity: 717 Architects: Shaw, Metz & Dolio Year Demolished: 1983 
 Images: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking.
 Left image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Right image: The Architecture of Parking. One of the more interesting aspects of this garage is that, unlike most garages, both publicly and privately owned, there is no large permanent signage advertising parking. It wasn’t needed; the structure itself is a better advertisement than any sign. The exterior walls are non-existent; rather, cars are prevented from plummeting by hundreds of cables held in tension. This transparency allows motorists on Wacker Drive to see fourteen levels of parked cars in abstract form. This was no mere parking garage, it was a monument to parking. 
 Right image: Ryerson-Burnham Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection. Left: This sculpture, Chicago Rising from the Lake by Milton Horn, was executed for Facility № 1, and can be seen adorning the massing on the Wacker frontage in the above images. Although created for a parking garage, it conspicuously lacks the presence of the automobile. This contrasts with every other aspect of these municipal garages, which otherwise celebrate the automobile. The sculpture was removed from the garage prior to demolition, and was eventually installed on the Columbus Street bridge. It remains to this day on the west side of the north footing. Right: The Floresheim Factory, located on the northwest corner of Canal and Adams, is another Shaw, Metz, & Dolio building which bears resemblance to Facility № 1. One can see that for Facility № 1, the Albert Kahn-influenced ribbon windows were substitued with tensile cables, and the floor slabs tapered and cantilevered. The elements of the garage appear lighter, however, the overall organization of planar elements is nearly identical. This building is still extant today, though barely recognizable as a result of a poorly executed condo conversion. 
 Left image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Right image: Bob Thall. Facility № 1 in 1954 during construction (left), and in 1983 during demolition (right). FACILITY № 2 Address: 20 S. Wacker Type: Ramp Capacity: 1230 Architects: Naess & Murphy Year Demolished: 1980-1982  Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Positioned along the river, the defining feature of Facility № 2 is horizontality. Opening in 1954, it was designed by Naess and Murphy who would, four years later, design another horizontally-oriented building along the river; the Sun-Times building. The pattern of the steel sheathing guarding the top two decks of the garage is nearly identical to the facing of the Sun-Times building. As large buildings would eventually be required to include parking facilities, it is not difficult to imagine this garage incorporated into the design of the Sun-Times building.  Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking.
Although Facility № 2 was by far the highest grossing municipal parking garage, earning nearly $50,000 in 1960, it was the second garage to be sold by the city to private interests. The land value was relatively low when the building was constructed, as evidenced by the large footprint and horizontality. By the time the city began selling garages in 1979; this garage occupied the most valuable real estate of any municipal garage, and was easily sold. FACILITY № 3 Address: 553 S. State Type: Ramp Capacity: 665 Architects: Everett Quinn Year Demolished: 1999  Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Facility № 3 was also horizontally oriented, as is the matter of course with non-spiral ramp garages. Interestingly, the horizontal planes of the entire structure shift, clearly revealing the presence of ramps. This is in contrast to Facility № 2, where the ramps are concealed within the structure. Here, the entire garage expresses the banked upward and downward motion of vehicles on a ramp, just as Facility № 1 expresses the vertical motion of an elevator. 
 Left image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Right image: Christopher Buoscio.
The fact that this garage served State Street shoppers is laid bare in its revenue patterns during the first five years of operation. Each year, revenues peak beginning late November until late December, and then fall off in January through February. Where Facility № 2 served to encourage construction in the central area, Facility № 3 slightly offset the migration of shoppers away from the central area to outlying suburban centers. FACILITY № 4 Address: 506 N. Rush Type: Ramp Capacity: 1969 Architects: Schmidt, Garden & Erickson Year Demolished:  Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking.
 Images: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. As with many of the images on this page dating to the 1950s and 1960s, the built environment depcited has changed so dramatically as to be indistinguishable in the present. In the above images, we see the presence of industrial activity in this area, as well as a smaller scale of buildings. This area today is devoid of any industry, and is now almost exclusively home to service-based retail. If this can be read as a microcosm of how the economy has changed over the past half-century, the structure which now stands on the land formerly occupied by Facility № 4 demonstrates changes in how parking is accomodated. This structure is a behemoth Nordstrom's with an interior parking garage. Aside from the entry portals and diminutive signage, there is no indication, structurally, that the building is a parking garage surrounded by retail space. Contemporary vernacular (as opposed to extraordinary) parking architecture has completed a full circle, with parking often being stashed not behind a classical facade as seen in many early examples, but retail space. FACILITY № 5 Address:875 N. Rush Type:Lift Capacity:420 Architects:Loebl & Schlossman Year Demolished: 
 Images: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Where Facilities № 1 and № 4 can be seen as paeans to the materiality of concrete and the triumph of the automobile, for Facility № 5, architects Loebl & Schlossman make explicit reference to the parking garage’s then-short history. In covering vehicles rather than revealing them, this garage draws similarity to early parking garages in Paris and Chicago. Stylistically, most of Chicago’s municipal garages can be considered Modernist. However, the curvilinear forms and use of block glass set Facility № 5 apart as an updated version of Art Moderne. This draws comparison to the Autorimezza, a large parking facility in Venice, completed in 1934, and even hints at Chicago s 1933 Century of Progress Fair.
FACILITY № 6 Address:210 E. Huron Type:Ramp Capacity:1188 Architects:Holabird, Root & Burgee Year Demolished: c.1975  Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking.
 Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Note: Facility № 7 was a small two-story garage in Uptown. It was one of about five such strucutres, which we will cover in a later page. FACILITY № 8 Address:120 N. LaSalle Type:Lift Capacity:495 Architects:Friedman, Alschuler, and Sincere Year Demolished:
 Images: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Perhaps due to high land values and more expensive machinery, the fee to park for one hour was 65 cents in 1960, fifteen cents higher than the other eight garages. At 35 dollars per month, it was also more expensive for long term parking. The garage occupied a small plot of land, which combined with high land value, necessitated an elevator garage, as ramps consume considerable amounts of space. Contrasting with Chicago’s two other municipal lift garages; the lift shafts are set parallel to the street, behind the façade. This parallel quality is repeated in the prominent horizontal guard rails which face the street. Three strips each; these rails conceal the cars and structure of the deck. However, they create a strong simplified form which appears to sit on an L-shaped massing of glazed brick. 
 Images: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Under construction in 1953. A Helumut Jahn-designed skyscraper occupies this land today.  Image: Ryerson-Burnham Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection. A rather large sign advertising parking is prominently included under the horizontal rails, above the LaSalle Street entrance. This emphasis on massive signage is similar to another Loop building by Friedman, Alschuler & Sincere during the same era; the Bond building (above). FACILITY № 9 Address: 320 N. LaSalle Type: Ramp Capacity: 650 Architects: Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Year Demolished: 2006 
 Images: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Not unlike the other municipal garage abutting the river, Facility № 2, horizontality is paramount in the design of Facility № 9. However, these two garages differ in their relationship to Wacker drive. Facility № 2 was situated on Wacker, and of course, was accessible from it. Facility № 9 was located on the other side of the river, facing Wacker drive. The horizontal orientation reflects not only the movement of the river, but more importantly, the movement of vehicles on Wacker drive. 
 Right image: Architectural Record. This garage was prominently visible from Wacker, thanks especially to the large, also horizontal, neon sign. Centered on the top deck, the sign is a good example of neon signage as advertisement and ornament. The garage was easily accessed from Wacker drive by turning north onto LaSalle, another street widened at the beginning of the auto era - the 1920s. An interesting feature is the two setback upper decks which presumably allow a driver to visually inspect for vacant spaces from Wacker or LaSalle. FACILITY № 10 Address: 535 N. St. Clair Type: Ramp Capacity: 262 Architects: Jensen & McClurg Year Demolished: still extant - will be demo'd by 2009
 Image: City of Chicago Bureau of Parking. Even for a small garage, it still has monumental aspirations. Resembling La Salle-10th Street garage in Minneapolis, the exterior wall is non-existant, unquestionably revealing the function. All of the support beams are inset, giving the cantilevered slabs the same floating illusion seen most prominently in Facility № 4. 
 Views of Facility № 10 in 2008. Go see it while you can. Within the upcoming year, it will meet the same fate as its eight brothers. 
 The fact that all of Chicago's municipal garages were done by local ‘name’ architects is telling. It is difficult to envision today, where the automobile is derided (but still used heavily), and parking garage design has come full circle to where cars are often concealed in, under, or on the first few levels of a building. In the context of rising oil prices and a trend towards environmentalism, one must bear in mind that automobiles once were a source of pride and a symbol of freedom for a great number of Americans. Chicago’s municipal garages weren’t slapped together out of necessity or built as cheaply as possible. Nor did they exist solely to maximize revenues for a private owner. These were civic monuments to the automobile, serving what was perceived as the public good. Page authored 6 June 2008. Written by Serhii Chrucky. View sources for this page. Back to Architecture section. Back to main page. |
