Home Insurance Building Site
Chicago halted construction mid-job — city officials had never seen a steel skeleton carry a building instead of its own walls and stopped work to investigate its safety.
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Jenney's steel frame weighed one-third of a comparable masonry building — radical enough that city officials stopped the job while they investigated. The building is gone, demolished in 1931 to make way for the Field Building, but a 1932 plaque in that building's southwest lobby still marks this corner of Adams, Clark, and LaSalle as the birthplace of the skyscraper.
What to look for
- The 1932 plaque in the southwest section of the Field Building lobby, placed by the owners who razed it, calling the original 'the true father of the skyscraper'
- The Adams–Clark–LaSalle footprint: Marshall Field's cleared at least six buildings to build here, the Home Insurance Building among them
- Picture 12 floors at 180 ft — the 1891 height after two extra stories were added, described at the time as an unprecedented scale
The building was demolished in 1931; head to the Field Building at the Adams/Clark/LaSalle block and look for the commemorative plaque inside the southwest lobby.
Home Insurance Building Site is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Chicago, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Chicago pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Chicago
- Willis TowerIt held the world's tallest title for nearly 25 years after opening in 1973 — and the Skydeck is still the highest observation deck in the United States.
- Art Institute of ChicagoFour paintings you've seen your whole life — Nighthawks, La Grande Jatte, The Old Guitarist, American Gothic — hang in the same building.
- John Hancock Center (875 N Michigan Ave)A moving platform pivots you 30 degrees outward over the Magnificent Mile — 1,128 feet of nothing beneath your feet.
- Aon CenterWhen it opened in 1973 as "Big Stan," this 83-floor tower was the fourth-tallest building on Earth — and clad entirely in marble.
- United CenterThe Bulls hardwood floor is literally assembled over the Blackhawks ice and taken apart game by game — two teams, one frozen surface, shared by puzzle.
- Soldier FieldThe NFL's oldest stadium lost its National Historic Landmark status because of the renovation meant to save it.