#bruce graham

[guy60660]

Inland Steel | Walter Netsch | Bruce Graham

[rabbitcruiser]

The 108-story Willis (Sears) Tower in Chicago was topped out at 1,451 feet (442.1 m) as the world’s tallest building on May 3, 1973 (till 1998).

[funstealer]

Architect: Bruce Graham

[germanpostwarmodern]

First Wisconsin Plaza (1972-74) in Milwaukee, WI, USA, by Bruce Graham of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

[90smovies]

[mrfahrenheit92]

[moviemosaics]

The Killing of Two Lovers

directed by Robert Machoian, 2020

[hagleyvault]

September 3rd is National Skyscraper Day, a date chosen in honor of the birthdate of architect Louis Henry Sullivan (1856-1924) “the father of modern skyscrapers”. Sullivan also introduced and popularized the principle of “form follows function” to late 19th and early 20th century architecture and industrial design, though he attributed the concept to 1st century B.C.E. Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio.  This ca. 1972 photograph documents the construction of the Sears Tower skyscraper (now Willis Tower) in Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Peruvian-American architect Bruce Graham (1925-2010) and Bangladeshi-American architect Fazlur Rahman Khan (1929-1982), the “father of tubular high rise design”, the skyscraper was the tallest in the world at the time of its completion in 1973. 

The 110-story, 1,450-foot tall building held this title for almost 25 years. When the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tried to claim the title in 1998, controversy over the Petronas Twin Towers decorative spires led to the establishment of four categories for measuring tall buildings.  This photograph is from Hagley Library’s collection of American Iron and Steel Institute photographs and audiovisual materials (Accession 1986.268). The collection has not been digitized in its entirety, but you can view a selection of materials from this accession in our Digital Archive by clicking here.