Welcome to CornerSpotter, Curbed's new and fast expanding weekly game in which you—fair readers—consult archival streetscape photos or postcard illustrations to identify the building(s) and/or location presented. Time to tap that reservoir of urban minutiae and flaunt it before your fellow readers. Fire away in the comments, and we'll reveal the correct identity and backstory on Friday.
This was a walk in the park for most of you, OK, all of you. It's the Jeweler's Building, also referred to as 35 East Wacker. Even though we went with about as old a picture as there is of the building, the mid-construction view was far enough along for the complete shape to reveal itself. The visual perspective is a familiar one as well. The speakeasy we alluded to in the teaser post was aptly named the Stratosphere and occupied the crowning belvedere, according to a Chicago Archtitecture Blog building entry. It is now the studio of big-time architect Helmut Jahn. The famed 522' skyscraper (it even had a Batman cameo!) was co-designed in the mid-1920s by Joachim G. Giaver and Frederick P. Dinkelberg. As a commenter or two mentioned, the building was designed with a car lift. This was to facilitate safe transfers for jewelry merchants within the bottom 23 floors of parking (for the first 14 years). In other lives, 35 East Wacker was named the Pure Oil Building and North American Life Insurance Building. No more softballs. Next week, you guys enter the big leagues.
·Name This Mid-Construction Riverfront Treasure [Curbed Chicago]
·CornerSpotter
[Photo: Skyscraper Page user aspiringArchitect]
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