Marina City

Marina City is a mixed-use residential/commercial building complex occupying the entire city block at 300 North State Street in Chicago, Illinois, on the north bank of the Chicago River, directly across from the Loop. The complex consists of two corncob-shaped 61-story residential towers, a saddle-shaped auditorium building, and a mid-rise hotel building all contained on a raised platform cantilevered over defunct railroad tracks adjacent to the river. Beneath the raised platform at river level is a small marina for pleasure craft.

Related Topics:
State Street - Chicago - Illinois

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The Marina City complex was designed in 1959 by architect Bertrand Goldberg and completed in 1964 at a cost of $36 million. When finished, the two towers were both the tallest residential buildings and the tallest reinforced concrete structures in the world. The complex was billed as a "city within a city", featuring numerous on-site facilities including a theatre, gym, swimming pool, ice rink, bowling alley, several stores and restaurants, and of course, a marina. Currently, the complex houses the House of Blues concert hall and hotel, as well as 10 Pin, an upscale bowling alley, a Crunch health club, and restaurants Bin 36 and Smith & Wollensky.

Related Topics:
1959 - Architect - Bertrand Goldberg - 1964 - House of Blues

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Marina City was the first urban post-war high-rise residential complex in the United States and is widely credited with beginning the residential renaissance of American inner cities. Its model of mixed residential and office uses and high-rise towers with a base of parking has become a primary model for urban development in the U.S. and has been widely copied throughout downtown Chicago.

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Each residential tower is an identical 61 floors in height. The bottom 19 floors of each tower is an exposed spiral parking ramp operated by valet, followed by a 20th floor laundry room with panoramic views of the Loop, 450 apartments on floors 21 through 60, and a 360-degree 61st floor open-air roof deck. The apartments are accessed from separate lobbies that share a common below-grade mezzanine level. Originally rental apartments, the complex converted to condominiums in 1977.

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Marina City apartments are unique in having almost no interior right angles. On each residential floor, a circular hallway surrounds the elevator core with 16 pie-shaped wedges arrayed around the hallway. Apartments are comprised of these triangular wedges. Bathrooms and kitchens are located nearer to the "point" of each wedge, towards the inside of the building. Living areas occupy the outermost areas of each wedge. Each wedge terminates in a 175-square-foot semi-circular balcony, separated from living areas by a floor-to-ceiling window wall. Because of this arrangement, every single living room and bedroom in Marina City has a balcony.

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The apartments are also unique in that they are all-electric, a function of the time of their construction in the early 1960s. They are not provided with hot water or central air or heat. Instead, each unit contains individual hot water heaters, heating and cooling units, and electric stoves, and residents pay individually for the electricity needed to run these appliances.

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In addition, the residential towers are noted for the high speed of their elevators. It takes approximately 35 seconds to travel from the lower-level lobby to the 61st-floor roofdecks.

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The towers are featured on the cover of the Wilco album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Related Topics:
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

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