Lake Point Tower is a high-rise residential building located on a promontory of the Lake Michigan lakefront in downtown Chicago, just north of the Chicago River at 505 North Lake Shore Drive. It is located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area. It rises somewhat apart from the urban cluster of downtown Chicago. The building is also the only skyscraper in downtown Chicago east of Lake Shore Drive.
DevelopmentEdit
The architects for Lake Point Tower were John Heinrich and George Schipporeit, working under the firm name of Schipporeit and Heinrich; the two were students of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the best known architects of the Bauhaus movement and International Style school, who taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Lake Point Tower was completed in 1968, is approximately 645 feet (197 m) tall, and was the tallest apartment building in the world at that time. The project developer was William F. Hartnett, Jr., chairman and founder of Hartnett-Shaw Development Company, which was responsible for more than 260 residential and commercial real estate developments in the United States from 1961â€"1983.
ArchitectureEdit
Lake Point Tower was inspired by Mies van der Rohe’s 1922 design for a glass-curtained skyscraper in Berlin. Schipporeit and Heinrich took van der Rohe's unbuilt office building concept and converted it to a residential building. Despite differences â€" Lake Point Tower is much taller than van der Rohe’s original project, more regular in form, and its exterior glass curtain wall is tinted â€" many consider it a Mies van der Rohe building executed by two of his protégés.
Because of its height and lakeside site, the skyscraper had to be designed to withstand high winds. At the center of the building is a triangular core, 59 feet wide, that contains nine elevators and three stairwells. This core holds all of the vertical weight of the building, allowing the perimeter pillars on the facade to be much smaller.
Radiating from the core are three arms that form an asymmetrical Y-shaped floor plan. The original four-armed design was changed to a three-armed design (120° apart). The outer walls are curved to prevent residents from seeing into other condominiums. The façade of the building is a curtain of bronze-tinted glass framed by gold-anodized aluminum, which reflects the sunlight off of Lake Michigan and looks golden.
Other featuresEdit
Well known for its graceful curves and enviable location, Lake Point Tower is the only major private structure on the lakefront side of Lake Shore Drive and likely to remain that way for the foreseeable future, given the city's prohibition on building on the lakefront.
Lake Point Tower was one of the first all-electric high-rise residential buildings in the world and pioneered the concept of the "Park in the City," being the first residential complex in a major city to have its own two-and-one-half acre parkâ€"including a playground, pool, duck pond, and waterfallsâ€"three stories above ground. The building also features an assortment of shops and restaurants on the second and ground levels of the complex, under the third-floor park. Cite, a restaurant and bar on the top floor of the 70-floor residential tower, boasts spectacular views of the city and lake and serves gourmet French/American cuisine. The restaurant and lounge are open to the public.
Lake Point Tower's position between Lake Shore Drive and Navy Pier gives it unimpeded north, east, and south views that are protected, for the foreseeable future, by the ordinances controlling use of the city's lakefront. A wedge of the cityscape view to the southwest would have been lost to architect Santiago Calatrava's Chicago Spire, which was to be built diagonally across from Lake Point Tower on the other side of Lake Shore Drive. However, the spire project was a casualty of the nation's economic recessionâ€"construction was halted in October, 2008.
Movies shot on locationEdit
Lake Point Tower has been host to many film shoots including:
- Raw Deal (1986 film)
- Folks! (film), (1991)
- Straight Talk, (1992) This film featured Dolly Parton and James Woods, and had Parton's character living in LPT.
- While You Were Sleeping, (1995) Parts of this film, starring Sandra Bullock and Peter Gallagher, were shot in the building.
- Meet the Parents, (2000)
- Category 6: Day of Destruction, (2004) In an outtake of this film, it is destroyed by a tornado in news footage.
- The Lake House, (2006) Hospital reception area filmed in LPT lobby.
- Divergent (2014) Briefly shown abandoned and decayed in a future Chicago. Lake Michigan is shown to have transformed into a wetland in the same shot.
Famous residentsEdit
Lake Point Tower has been home to many affluent Chicagoans past and present, including:
- David Axelrod, Political Consultant
- Ryne Sandberg, former Chicago Cubs player
- Sammy Sosa, formerly of the Chicago Cubs baseball team
- Alice Cooper, rock singer, songwriter and musician
- Ozzie Guillén, Chicago White Sox former player, manager
- Andre Dawson, former Chicago Cubs outfielder
- Scottie Pippen, former Chicago Bulls player
- Goldie Hawn, actress
- Kurt Russell, actor
- Rich (Goose) Gossage, former Chicago White Sox pitcher
- Mickey Rooney, film and stage actor
- Joakim Noah, former Chicago Bulls Center
- B.J. Armstrong, former Chicago Bulls player
- Helen Reddy, singer of I am Woman; Hear Me Roar
Position in Chicago's skylineEdit
See alsoEdit
- Chicago architecture
- List of buildings
- List of skyscrapers
- List of tallest buildings in Chicago
- List of tallest buildings in the United States
- World's tallest structures
- Harbor Point (skyscraper)
- Park Tower Condominium (Chicago)
ReferencesEdit
- Schulze, Franz; Kevin Harrington (2003). Chicago's Famous Buildings. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. p. 157.Â
- Sinkevitch, Alice (1993). AIA Guide to Chicago. Orlando, FL: Hardcourt Brace & Company. pp. 117â€"18.Â
- Skyscrapers, Antonino Terranova, White Star Publishers, 2003 (ISBN 8880952307)
- In 2007, the American Institute of Architects [1] listed Lake Point Tower as one of America's 150 favorite structures.
External linksEdit
- Lake Point Tower website
- Emporis listing
- Google Maps