William LeBaron Jenney

Home Insurance Building

Teacher, engineer, landscape planner, and
pioneer of building technologies

Born: September 25, 1832 in Fairhaven,

Massachusetts
Died: June 15, 1907

Education
Studied engineering at Lawrence Scientific
School of Harvard University

1853-1856: Ecole Centrale des Arts et

Manufactures, Paris, France (Gustav Eiffel)
Childhood
Born into a family of New England ship owners.

As a child of the industrial revolution, his formative years occurred

during a time of innovation, prosperity and the implementation of
engineering marvels such as textile mills, the steam engine, and bridge
trusses.
Travel and influence
• In teens, sailed around South America to
California, Hawaii and the Philippines
• He was impressed and fascinated by
indigenous methods of construction
• Light-weight bamboo frames used for
structures in the Philippines that could
withstand the impact of tropical storms.
• Later employed similar techniques with
other materials, such as iron and steel.
Civil War
• First job as a railroad structural
engineer in Mexico.
• During the Civil War he and fellow New
Englander Frederick Law Olmsted
helped engineer better sanitary
conditions for the Northern troops, an
experience that would shape most all
of his future work.
• He designed fortifications, eventually
attaining the rank of major.
First commission
• In 1869, Jenney received his first important commission: the design of
the West Parks system.
• As chief engineer, he designed the Humboldt, Garfield and Douglas
parks and the boulevard system.
• Tree-lined boulevards connect an extensive system of connecting
parks.
• Jenney had been influenced by the construction of the Paris
boulevard system and used these designs as a model.
Style
• By 1868, Jenney was a practicing architect designing private homes
and Chicago parks.
• Jenney's residential architecture was designed, as a series of
interconnected rooms within an open floor plan—free, roaming, and
connected like the West Park System.
Landscaping
• In 1870s, Jenney's firm supervised much of the implementation of
Olmsted and Vaux's plan for Riverside, Illinois, contributing
significantly to the physical landscape character of this early
Picturesque suburb.
• Due to lack of public funding, Jenney only was able to implement
portions of his 1871 plan for Chicago's Douglas, Humboldt, and
Garfield Parks and boulevards.
• In the 1870s, Jenney and H. W. S. Cleveland were hired to work on the
design of Graceland, Chicago's new rural cemetery conceived in the
Picturesque tradition.
Transition
Co-authored “The Principles and Practice of Architecture” with Sanford
E. Loring
An influential publication that brought him notoriety in the business
community, and turned him a designer of large commercial buildings.
 First Leiter Building
During the late 1870s and early 1880s, Jenney
designed the First Leiter Building in Chicago, a
department store for Levi Z.
An iron skeletal frame
Terracotta, fireproofing materials on all of its
structural members
Elevators
Chicago building department required him to build
an exterior party wall as a traditional masonry
loadbearing structure, but the floors were
constructed of heavy timber.
Jenney’s approach was to use cast-iron columns
encased in masonry to support steel beams bearing
floor weights.
The outside walls, which were no longer weight-
bearing, could then be filled with windows.
Contributions
• Jenney's greatest fame came from his large commercial buildings. His
1879 Leiter building was an experiment in engineering, using the
popular cast iron and masonry to support large exterior openings
filled with glass. Again, natural light was as important an element in
Jenney's tall buildings as it was in his designs of park systems.
The Ludington Building, also in Chicago, built in 1890-1891, was the first to have a
structural frame entirely made of steel and was also clad entirely in terracotta.
Skyscrapers
“Before skyscraper was used for buildings with an exciting height, the word was already in use for
things sticking into the air, such as a triangular sky-sail (first recorded use in 1794), a high-standing
horse (1788), a very tall man (1857), a rider on one of the very high cycles formerly in use (1892) or
an tall hat or bonnet, (1800).”
- Oxford English Dictionary
On February 25, 1883,a regular feature in Chicago daily, New York
Gossip, contained “The High-building Craze”. The subtitle was: “Our
skyscrapers”
Home- Insurance Building
• The first tall building or first skyscraper
history
• Ten stories high
• Built between 1884 (spring) and 1885 (fall)
• Subsequently expanded to twelve floors in
1890.
• 55 meters (180 feet)
• 235 offices, for 1250 business day population
• Four passenger elevators
• 200,000 rentable square feet in total
• In 1931 was demolished along with other
buildings to build the empire field, now
known as lasalle national bank building and
bank of America building.
• Client: Home Insurance Company
• Address: Chicago Loop, 135 South LaSalle Street,
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
• Building Use: Office
• Frame: Steel, formed by square pillars filled with
concrete and covered with terracotta as fire
protection, the slabs were supported by rolled steel
type IPN containing the slabs prefabricated support
of each plant.
• Architectural style: Chicago School Functional
Period (1880-1900)
Steel Framing
3 parts
The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, rectangular,
presenting a facade inspired by a classical Corinthian
column divided into three parts
• The first two floors coated with different pillow
shapes in stone plucked from the street level, giving
way to a volume stylized in search of heaven.
• The main body of offices, which dominated the
orthogonal grid, was characterized by the function
of the office building, in which large glazed spaces
left for better lighting.
• The termination superior shot, simulating a classic
capital, was decorated with different ledges.
Facade
• For modern façade, cladding made ​the use of brick as a masonry and
glass for windows.
• The self-supporting steel structure, building support, allowed to open
large glazed panels on the facade by means of "Chicago windows"
(windows chicago), mostly combined with large sash fixed panels in
the center to illuminate the interior of the building naturally.
 Glazing and curtain walls
• The large glazed spaces, which give up the wide-load bearing wall, were the basis
of what later became the traditional "curtain wall", present to this day.
• With this innovative building system designed by Jenney by a steel skeleton could
gain more usable space inside the building, while allowing greater ventilation and
lighting inside to the welfare of its occupants.
Factors to skyscrapers
In 1871 a sad fire that destroys most of the houses built of wood by-almost vernacular
building system-known as "Balloon frame".

Arises a new architectural style to rebuild the city called "Chicago School", in which a
group of architects and engineers who propose similar solutions provide the foundation to
build a new metropolis by building high-rise buildings is born " skyscrapers ".

With the arrival of lifts and materials such as cast iron years ago and then with steel, made
possible the challenge of building the first high-rise buildings of 10 to 15 floors.

Other factors such as population growth, high demand for houses and high land values ​
significantly influenced the decision to start building the first buildings in search of heaven.
In a plot of small size, many plants were repeated in height, making the most of the space
was a reality.
“Chicago was the real cradle of the skyscraper in actual practice. New York soon took the lead,
however, for the simple reason that there was greater need there for the concentration of
population which the skyscraper afforded."
-New York Times, March 18, 1928
Chicago revolution
"Commercial Style“
Creation of buildings that rose by metal structures were lined by
building function.
The windows could vary in size when it is desired and in many cases
eliminated the thick walls of cargo.
Smooth surfaces and lack of ornamentation on the walls.
In the late nineteenth century, revolution in terms of the construction
of buildings of this type based on the characteristic steel frame, both
residential and office use.
 Client and the architect
• In 1883, the Insurance Company
Home Insurance Company tender
brings distinctive new headquarters.
• The work, being a commercial
building, should have well-lit large
open spaces that would facilitate
the work to employees while saving
electricity.
• William Le Baron Jenney, was the Chicago Tribune, March 2, 1884
winner of the competition with its
innovative proposal by designing
entirely based on a steel frame.
Site
• On the corner of the Adams and La Salle streets in Chicago's Loop
(city district).

Due to the proximity of Lake Michigan, the city of Chicago had the
negative factor of having a somewhat weak clay soil, so to build the
first high-rise buildings had to be perfecting foundation systems used
until then and that "an caisson Chicago "(Chicago drawer). This
drawer, of the same dimensions as the sun, was formed by a concrete
wall just over a meter thick (1.20 m.) That allowed up the pillars from
bedrock.
“This section of the Field Building is erected on the site of the Home Insurance Building,
which structure, designed and built in eighteen hundred and eighty four by the late William
Le Baron Jenney, was the first high building to utilize as the basic principle of its design the
method known as skeleton construction and, being a primal influence in the acceptance of
this principle was the true father of the skyscraper, 1932.”
- Plague placed by owners in the southwest section of the lobby
Later ripples
• Marking a golden age in terms of Urban Planning both cities and
laying the groundwork for what later became the Bauhaus, a school of
design, art and architecture, which means a small number of
important architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Philip
Johnson, among others, the design principle "form follows function",
laid the foundation of the International Style that result in the
"Second Chicago School".
 Significant features
For the construction of the Home Insurance Building
was used freestanding steel structure lined with
terracotta as fire protection. The different floors of
offices were allocated by brick walls covered with
terracotta and plaster walls to the ceiling.

Terracotta tiles were used as a flame retardant.

For the predominant façade cladding and glass brick

windows. Numerous adjustable blinds and awnings were
also installed on the façade and sun protection.

By using steel structure made a lot more space inside

the building regardless of load thick walls, improving
ventilation and lighting by sash windows combined with
fixed panels, which are commonly known as "Chicago
windows"
Robinson Fire Map 1886
Volume 1, Plate 1
PLAN
FACADE
Pros- steel framing
• The structure consists of a steel frame, thanks
to its ductility, admitted large deformations
without breaking.
• It not only allowed to gain much more height,
but also allowed large open spaces on the
facade glazing.
• Although the Home Insurance Building made
full use of steel framing technology, it was not
a pure steel-framed structure since it rested
partly on granite piers at the base and on a Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1931

rear brick wall.

Controversies
The actual “first skyscraper”
Tacoma building, completed in 1888, or the Home
Insurance building, finished three years earlier, in 1885. 

Chicago Tribune November 22, 1931

Fame and demolition
• Was not done by explosives,
as the steel structure can be
dismantled by human
personnel from the top for
safety, thus preventing
possible damage the
surrounding buildings. Also,
the steel can be removed
subsequently recycled and
reused, for example in a new
building.
Important Projects
1868: Col James H. Bowen House, Hyde Park, Illinois
1871: West Park System, Chicago
1871: Riverside Water Tower, Riverside Community, Illinois
1879: Leiter Building (First), Chicago (Demolished in 1972)
1885: Home Insurance Building, Chicago (Demolished in 1931)
1891: Second Leiter Building (Sears, Roebuck Building), Chicago
1891: Ludington Building, Chicago
1891: Manhattan Building, Chicago
1893: Horticultural Building, World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago
Other works
• Before his passing in 1907, Jenney would complete numerous
commercial skyscrapers and mentor protégés including Daniel
Burnham, Louis Sullivan, William Mundie, William Holabird and
Martin Roche.
• Although the Home Insurance Building was demolished in 1931, many
of Jenney’s buildings—including downtown Chicago’s Manhattan
Building —still stand, though they’re dwarfed by contemporary high-
rises.
Honors
• Late 1870s, he commuted regularly to teach in the architecture
program at the University of Michigan.
• He also was a teacher and mentor to a number of younger architects
of the Chicago Commercial school.
• Jenney was elected an Associate of the American Institute of
Architects in 1872, and became a Fellow in 1885.
• He served as first vice president from 1898 to 1899.
 LEGACY
• Jenney was never afraid to
experiment with materials,
concepts, and unusual design
ideas. 
• Regarded as both an engineer and
an architect, William Le Baron
Jenney was influential in shaping
Chicago’s skyline. Still, without
William Le Baron Jenney’s early
Legacy
innovations, Chicago’s architectural
legacy would not be the same.
Bibliography
• http://www.jmhdezhdez.com/2013/06/home-insurance-building-chic
ago.html
• http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/visual-dictionary/e
ntry/william-le-baron-jenney/
• https://tclf.org/pioneer/william-le-baron-jenney
• https://
www.thoughtco.com/william-le-baron-jenney-american-skyscraper-17
7855
• https://csengineermag.com/article/william-lebaron-jenney-skyscraper
-pioneer
/
The End