725,230977311 G498 SOUVENIR OF TRIBUNE TOWER IIUN01S HISTORICAL SURVEY Glimpses of Tribune Tower Presented as a souvenir of your visit to the home of the World's Greatest Newspaper © 1943, The Tribune Company Tribune Tower . . . "an impulsive flame of beauty caught in a mould of stone" Tribune Tower Words cannot describe the beauty of the Taj Mahal. Man fails to voice the true impression of the magnitude of the Great Pyra- mid. To say that Tribune Tower is a stone sky- scraper which is square in plan and isolated on all sides is to describe a Brahms symphony as a musical composition written for a number of instruments. To appreciate the music of this great master you must hear it. To appreciate the symphony in stone which is Tribune Tower you must see it, experience it, live in the same community with it. Tribune Tower, a twentieth-century expres- sion of Gothic architecture, is first of all a prac- tical office building. It rises 36 stories, 456 feet above the level of Michigan Avenue. Its 60 caissons sink 125 feet deep to the earth's bed- rock. But viewing at a distance its slim, taper- ing beauty, it is difficult to associate this cathedral-like structure with the ordinary, every-day activities of commerce and industry. Let us view Tribune Tower in all its splendor first from the south, from across the great bridge which carries Michigan Avenue over the Chicago River. Lift your eyes and see it for the first time — a banner in stone, flinging skyward a 1IMADV II IK I IIRRAM-r.HAMPfe The main entrance to Tribune Tower is a masterpiece of Gothic art. Four soaring sweep of gray lines and mass. Your eyes follow these gray lines, up the massive, slender shaft to the filigreed diadem of stone which crowns it, up the delicate spindle which is the flag staff to the pinnacle where the nation's banner whips in the wind. In the upward thrust of this mighty shaft of stone and steel, there is fluidity of movement, rhythmic speed. This is no lifeless thing, no mere product of man's ingenuity and labor. This is a living, conscious being, akin to trees and mountains and fire! It is an impulsive flame of beauty caught in a mould of stone. The Noble Gateway to a Noble Edifice Approaching the main entrance to Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue, you are moved by a feeling akin to that which inspires you at the stately entrance to a great cathedral. Inside the main arch of the entrance, just over the twin doors, is the marvelously carved stone screen. It is a thing of sheer beauty. One wonders at the skill of those who put ponderous stone to the service of a loveliness so delicate and so fragile. The outer sweep of the great arch, reaching up three stories from the sidewalk, also is rich with many carvings, as are its inside walls. And yet, despite the ornamental riches of this noble gateway, with all its intricate interlacing of de- sign, there is fine restraint in its handling. At the base of the left side of the archway is the most important of the thousands of stones in the Tower's great bulk — its foundation stone. Nearby and studding the wall are other stones of special significance. These stones, many of Five Inside view of the lovely stone screen surmounting the entrance to Tribune Tower Six them pitted and scarred with centuries of ex- posure, are mementoes of other masterpieces, precious relics of age-old structures such as the Parthenon, the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal, Westminster Abbey, and others. They are placed in their new surroundings as a tribute from those who designed and built this modern masterpiece to the great builders of ancient times whose dreams and works have been the inspiration of centuries. Of these historic stones more later, and also of the gargoyles showing here and there about the level of the fourth story. Beyond the Threshold of the Tower Upon entering the lobby of Tribune Tower you are instantly aware of the complete har- mony that exists between the interior and the exterior of this structure. Its proportions are perfect. Its spaciousness neither overwhelm nor awes. Through the cunning of craftsman- ship a stone-flagged, stone-walled room of huge dimensions has been made to take on an air of warm and pleasantly intimate hospitality. In the lobby the coldness of stone walls has been avoided by the use of Travertin marble, a cream-colored, pitted stone of soft, warm hue. The lofty ceiling is raftered with great beams. Further warmth, as well as a richly decorative note, has been achieved by the extensive use of dark brown oak. A balcony of this wood hangs below the clock on the west wall, and elsewhere throughout the lobby its presence is visible in splendid examples of the woodcarver's art. Illumination of the lobby is provided by three Seven Exquisite stone traceries beautify the entrance to Tribune Tower. Eight bronze chandeliers suspended from the ceiling. Massive in size and weight, their beautiful de- sign gives them an air of delicate grace. Occupying most of the east wall is a superb mural which depicts the history of man's struggle through the centuries for freedom of speech. Safe, Speedy Elevators The corridor to the right of the mural is the starting place for the local elevators. The ex- press elevators start in the corridor to the left of the mural. The beautiful doors of Tribune Tower elevators are worthy of special attention. They are made of hand-wrought iron and in their various panels carry out the decorative motif noticeable in the Tower's stone work. How Tribune Tower services are kept up to date is seen in the story of the building's pas- senger elevators. The cabs installed during the Tower's construction in 1924 were replaced by cabs of the newest design in 1934. During 1941 these were completely modernized by the addi- tion of new and safer controls, automatic level- ing, and the "High Call Return" system. Unless signaled from a higher floor, elevators equipped with "High Call Return" do not ascend higher than the floor at which they disembark their last passengers. When set in motion they auto- matically return to their starting point. Many other features are worthy of attention in the lobby. On the west wall is the reverse view of the beautiful stone screen first seen from the outside on the way in. Notice how its delicate traceries break the entering light into hundreds of fantastic shapes. The lobby clock, Nine with its golden hands and numerals, is built into the center of the screen. The Hall of Inscriptions To many journalists throughout America the lobby of Tribune Tower is known as the Hall of Inscriptions. This name is due to the series of inscriptions expressive of the ideals and obli- gations of the press carved on the lobby walls. On the west wall, to the left of the screen, is the following quotation from a decision of the United States Supreme Court, June 1, 1931, written by Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes: "The administration of government has be- come more complex. The opportunities for This quotation from fohn Ruskin, inscribed on the lobby floor, admirably expresses the spirit which ani- mated the builders of Tribune Tower, Ten malfeasance and corruption have multi- plied. Crime has grown to most serious proportions. And the danger of its protec- tion by unfaithful officials and of the im- pairment of the fundamental security of life and property by criminal alliances and official neglect^ emphasize the primary need of a vigilant and courageous press, espe- cially in great cities. The fact that the liberty of the press may be abused by mis- creant purveyors of scandal does not make any the less necessary the immunity of the press from previous restraint in dealing with official misconduct." Above the foregoing quotation is inscribed the first amendment to the constitution: li Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the free- dom of speech or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." To the right of the screen is the following quotation from Richard Brinsley Sheridan: "Give me but the liberty of the press and I will give to the minister a venal house of peers. I will give him a corrupt and servile house of commons. I will give him the full swing of the patronage of office. I will give him the whole host of ministerial influence. I will give him all the power that place can confer upon him, to purchase up submis- sion and overawe resistance; and yet, Eleven armed with the liberty of the press ', I will go forth to meet him undismayed. I will attack the mighty fabric of that mightier engine. I will shake down from its height corruption and bury it beneath the ruins of the abuses it was meant to shelter." On the same wall is a definition of liberty from 'The Suppliant Women," a patriotic play written, B. C. 42 1 , by the great Greek tragedian, Euripides. It reads: 11 This is true liberty, when free-born men, having to advise the public, may speak free which he who can, and will, deserved high praise, who neither can, nor will, may hold his peace: What can be juster in a state than this?" On the western half of the north wall is an extract from the far-reaching decision handed down in February, 1923, by the Illinois Supreme Court in the unsuccessful libel suit for $10,000,- 000 brought against the Tribune by the City of Chicago. Here is the extract: "The struggle for freedom of speech has marched hand in hand in the advance of civilization with the struggle for other great human liberties. History teaches that human liberty cannot be secured unless there is freedom to express grievances" It is in the inscription carved in the wall to the right of the foregoing quotation that the Tribune takes its greatest pride, and from which it draws its greatest inspiration. It is a testamentary message from Joseph Medill to the newspaper whose greatness he so Twelve securely founded. It was written in 1899, the year of his death. "/ want the Tribune to continue to be after I am gone as it has been under my direc- tions: an advocate of political and moral progress, and in all things to follow the line of common sense." On the northern half of the east wall, over the archway leading to the express elevators, is inscribed Patrick Henry's stirring phrase: "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Directly over the Henry inscription is the following epigram: "The nearer you are to the enemy the nearer you are to God" On the topmost part of this section of the east wall is the following quotation from a speech delivered by Daniel Webster in the U. S. Senate, March 7, 1850: " The entire and absolute freedom of the press is essential to the preservation of govern- ment on the basis of a free constitution" This quotation from the pseudonymous "Junius," famous 18th century pamphleteer, is carved over the archway leading to the local elevators: "Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be instilled into your children, that the liberty of the press is the palladium of all civil, political and religious rights of free- men." Over the words of Junius is carved this utter- ance of Benjamin Rush, member of the Con- Thirteen tinental Congress and a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence: "Newspapers are the sentinels of the liber- ties of our country." Inscribed on the eastern half of the south wall is this memorable definition of a newspaper: "The newspaper is an institution developed by modern civilization to present the news of the day, to foster commerce and industry, to inform and lead public opinion, and to furnish that check upon government which no constitution has ever been able to provide." Above this definition of a newspaper is carved the following quotation from the opinion handed down, February 11, 1936, by Associate Justice George Sutherland and concurred in unani- mously by the U. S. Supreme Court in the case of Grossjean vs. The American Press: " A free press stands as one of the great in- terpreters between the government and the people. To allow it to be fettered is to fetter ourselves." Four inscriptions are carved on the western half of the south wall. The topmost is from the Gospel of St. John: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Under the foregoing is the following quota- tion from Thomas Erskine, Lord Chancellor of England in the first decade of the nineteenth century: Fourteen . ' " 7 < WANT THE TRIBUNE r yX J . . -- TO CONTINUE TO BE AFTER I AM GONE ■ j AS IT HAS BEEN UNDER MY DIRECTIONS, : l\ AN ADVOCATE OF - POLITICAL AND MORAL PROGRESS . 1 AND IN ALL THINGS ; TO FOLLOW THE LINE OF COMMON SENSE . > JOSEPH MEOILL J Carved on the north wall of Tribune Tower lobby is this quotation from Joseph MedilVs last letter to the Tribune. I 'l$ AN INSTITUTION rDgV ilbf ED 8Y M0DERN , CIV! II Z AT40N ^TQ'?R|SENt'THE"NEW| OF TH£ I>AY, - LTD FOST ER jCQMMERCfc AlsiD INDlbsTRfe TO |NIFORM J^HQ LEAD] PUBLIC .0 If IN LOH . .; AND TO FURNISH . .' " x;.J .J THAT ICHECR ij POJsi GOVERNMENT-^- /. WH ICff NO' CONST I TUTION , 1,1 HAS. EVER BEEN/JBU-'tfO Mj This succinct definition of the newspaper is inscribed on the south wall of Tribune Tower lobby. Fifteen "The liberty of opinion keeps governments themselves indue subjection to their duties ." Next comes this notable dictum from the works of Thomas Jefferson: "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press and that cannot be limited without being lost." The final quotation in this group is from the writings of James Madison, fourth president of the United States. It says: "To the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression" On the wall facing the express elevators two inscriptions are carved. One, from a decision written by John Marshall Harlan, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1877 to 1911, reads: "I cannot assent to that view, if it be meant that the legislature may impair or abridge the rights of a free press and of free speech whenever it thinks that the public welfare required that to be done. The public wel- fare cannot override constitutional privi- leges ■> and if the rights of free speech and a free press are, in their essence, attributes of national citizenship, as I think they are, then neither congress nor any state, since the adoption of the 14th amendment, can, by legislative enactments or by judi- cial action, impair or abridge them." Sixteen To the right of the foregoing is the following passage from Milton's dramatic poem, Samson Agonistes: "But what more oft, in nations grown corrupt. And by their vices brought to servitude, Than to love bondage more than liberty — Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty — And to despise, or envy, or suspect, Whom God hath of His special favor raised As their deliverer?" On the wall facing the local elevators the following utterance by Associate Justice Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court is carved: "The constitutional right of free speech has been declared to be the same in peace and in war. In peace, too, men may differ widely as to what loyalty to our country demands, and an intolerant majority, swayed by passion or by fear, may be prone in the future, as it has often been in the past, to stamp as disloyal, opinions with which it disagrees. Letters of Jefferson and Lincoln Four historic documents speak from the walls of Tribune Tower lobby: A letter from Thomas Jefferson to Czar Alexander I of Russia; two letters from Abraham Lincoln to Joseph Medill; a letter from Lincoln to the Tribune. Written June 15, 1804, Jefferson's letter thanks the Czar for his intervention on behalf of an American frigate stranded on the coast of Tripoli. It is in the east wall to the right of mural. The earliest of the Lincoln letters, to left of mural, is dated June 25, 1858. It deals with an Seventeen incident arising out of Lincoln's maiden speech in Congress. His explanation to his friend Joseph Medill covers three pages. It sketches the inaccuracies in a story printed by a hostile newspaper and gives the real facts. In a second letter framed in the east side of the south wall, Lincoln discusses with Mr. Medill the prospects for his election as President which followed two months later. This letter is dated at Springfield, September 4, 1860. Another letter, in which Lincoln gives his reasons for renewing his subscription to the Tribune can be seen in the extreme right of the north wall of the lobby. It is dated June 15, 1859 and, like the others, written from Springfield. A facsimile reproduction of this letter is shown below. n+j Steam is typified by the wood carv- ing at the right end of the beam over the local elevator lobby. Electricity is sym- bolized by this carving located to the left of the carv- ing of steam. Thirty to gratify the traditional Spanish sense of honor, as well as to save lives on both sides, Dewey and the Spanish captain-general, Jandenes, had agreed upon a mock bombardment with the distant Morang hills as the target. Hence, early on the morning of August 13, 1898, Captain Coghlan of the U. S. S. Raleigh gave the range as "seven thousand yards," and the command to fire. "Seven thousand hells!" muttered skeptical Gun-pointer Riley, the best shot in the fleet, when he heard the range from the bridge. He dropped his sight-bar to twenty-seven hundred yards and fired. The shot went wide, but in two more shots he found the fort. Captain Coghlan soon saw that his gunners could get a range for themselves, regardless of official play-acting. So he sounded "Cease firing!" and took the Raleigh out of action. An Ancient Stone's New Tradition Near the San Antonio stone are two other memorials of Manila. One is a block from Fort Santiago, whence the Filipino patriot, Rizal, was led to execution by the Spanish in 1896. The other is an ancient and deeply lettered Chinese gravestone that the Spaniards brought to Manila as ballast in the early 1600's. Some- how it found its way into the fabric of Santa Lucia barracks which General MacArthur used as quarters. Already this stone has taken on a new tradi- tion. It is said that for certain of Chicago's Chinese townsmen it possesses supernatural attributes, and that beholding it, they change Thirty-one The physical production of the Tribune begins in the timberlands on Lake Superior. From the forest s, Tribune ships carry logs to heads the fleet which carries paper from the Thorold mill to Tribu, Tribune's affiliated publication, the New York News, is made i Thirty-two £J^ SHELTER BAY^/ C^0{0^ \wn in the upper right-hand corner of the map and at Heron Bay \ Tribune paper mill at Thorold. The M. S. "Chicago Tribune" warehouses near the mouth of the Chicago river. Paper for the he mill at Baie Comeau. Thirty -three their course and pass by on the far side of the walk with averted eyes. Thus for three stones of the thirty-three. For the others, we can list them in many ways. If we take their geography, their story carries us to the four corners of the earth. One was riven from a Roman Catholic church almost as near the equator as Trondhjem is to the Arctic circle. It is from the monastery church of Santo Domingo in Panama, the oldest town of European origin on the American mainland. The Prisoner of Chillon Or we can trace them through famous stories of joy and sorrow. From the southern wall of the Tower — fourth course of stone in the first pier — Byron sings his sonnet of Francois Boni- vard, the Prisoner of Chillon, for here is a stone from the dungeon on Lake Geneva in which the patriot lived. In the sixth course of stone on the left of the arch, appears one of the most significant and treasured of the Tower's memorials. It comes from the great cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris whose construction was begun in the 12th century. Of the world's architectural curiosities there is none more daring or more enduring than the celebrated flat arch of the now wholly dis- mantled and partly ruined monastery church of Santo Domingo in Panama City. For more than two centuries, in a land of conflagrations and earthquakes, its amazing span of forty feet, with a rise of only two feet, has withstood both fire and shock. The Tribune's memento from Thirty-four this church is cemented into the Hubbard Street side of the Tower. Resolute Luther; Irresolute Hamlet Near it is a stone eloquent of a mighty per- sonality and world-shaking changes. It is from the Wartburg, Frederick the Wise's castle at Eisenach, whither Martin Luther's friends hurried him in 1521 to save him from trial and the stake. Another stone bespeaks the immortal genius of Shakespeare. It is from Kronberg Castle at Elsinore, Denmark, the locale of the story which Shakespeare wove into Hamlet. The stone in the eighth and ninth courses on the north wall commemorates an emperor's boast and an empire's fall. It is from the older part of the mosque of Sancta Sophia, Constan- tinople, and long antedates the capture of the city by Mohammed II in 1453 and his conver- sion of the ancient Christian basilica into a mosque. Fourteen centuries ago, after this stone and its companions had been set in place, the emperor Justinian, formulator of the famous Justinian Code, was present at the solemn conse- cration of Sancta Sophia. "Glory be to God," he exclaimed, "who thought me worthy to accomplish so great a work; I have vanquished thee, O Solomon!" The most comprehensive symbol in the entire collection of stones appears in the ninth course to the right of the entrance arch. It utters ancient measures of defense and twentieth- century economics. Not only is it from the Great Wall which the Chinese began nearly Thirty-Jive twenty-two centuries ago, but it is from the sector of the wall under which runs the 3600- foot tunnel of the Peiping-Kalgan railroad that pierces Nan-K'ow pass. That road was a purely Chinese undertaking and when it was finished in 1909 it stood for just one thing — "China for the Chinese." And that was precisely what the Great Wall stood for when the Chinese began it in the year 214 B. C. The Complete List of Stones Space forbids more than tabulation of the remaining stones. Here are the sources of all of them: 1. Old General Post Office Building, Dublin, Ireland. 2. Hamlet's Castle, Denmark. 3. Part of Japanese Lantern from Shrine of Hibiya Daijingum, Tokyo, Japan. 4. Westminster Abbey, London, England. 5. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. 6. Oldest part of Cologne Cathedral, Germany. 7. Notre Dame de Paris. 8. Taj Mahal, Agra, India 9. Trondhjem Cathedral, Norway, A. D. 1200. 10. Great Wall of China. 11. Parthenon on the Acropolis, Athens. 12. Royal Castle, Stockholm, Sweden. 13. Manila — Fort Santiago, prison where Rizal was confined the night before his execution. 14. Manila — from Santa Lucia Barracks. Part of old Chinese gravestone brought as ballast by Spanish ships at the beginning of the 17th century. 15. Manila — Fort San Antonio Abad, target for Admiral Dewey's bombardment in 1898. Thirty-six 16. Bridge in the Forbidden City, Peiping, China. 17. The Winter Palace, Peiping, China, 15th century. 18. The roof of a temple in the Forbidden City, 15th century. 19. The ruins of an ancient temple in Honan Province, China. 20. Cologne Cathedral, Germany. 21. The battlements of Fortress Ehrenbreit- stein, Rhineland, Germany (four stones). 22. Citadel, David's Tower, Jerusalem. 23. Luther's Wartburg near Eisenach, Ger- many. 24. Castle of Chillon, Switzerland. 25. Massachusetts Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge. 26. Ruins of the Santo Domingo Monastery and Church, Old Panama. 27. Mosque of Sancta Sophia, Constantinople. Church built in 548. 28. The Alamo, Texas. 29. The royal castle of Wawel, Poland, built in 15th Century. 30. Stone cannon ball from Pevensey Castle, England, 13th century. Thirty-seven The monkey with cap and bauble is a symbol of folly. The grotesques illustrated are over the fourth floor windows. The crowned dog, his paw caught in a mouse trap, symbolizes pomposity. The cat, holding a beggar's tin cup, represents the sad consequences of improvi- dence. Thirty-eight The American porcupine 9 with a horn in his paws, is the symbol of intoler- ance and arrogance. IV Gargoyles and Grotesques Tribune Tower, while a skyscraper in fun- damental structure, is as truly Gothic in spirit as the cathedrals of Notre Dame de Paris, Cologne, or Canterbury. If we examine it closely, we see that spirit shining forth in the most unexpected places. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in the gargoyles, or grotesques, which are carved into the ornamental stone work of its exterior. >Gargoyles and grotesques, as nearly as we can learn, came to figure in the ornamentation of Europe's great Gothic cathedrals, partly as orna- ments, and partly as a species of fun on the part of the masons and stone carvers. Perhaps the man in charge of a great window had been scolded by an irritable bishop for some of his work, and remembered it. Well — the window is finished now. He has carved all the ornaments except the last one at the top, and he is perched up there, fifty feet above the ground, in front of the blank stone which is last to be carved. What shall he carve on it? An idea! He will play a joke on the bishop! So he does. He carves a pig's body, with a caricature of the bishop's countenance for a head. Then he clambers down, glowing in the Thirty-nine Clutching a camera, this wise oldowlpersonifies ob- servation and caution. The frog suggests those who are ever alert and eager to be heard. The ape represents the fa- miliar busybody type of person. Spectacled and nose-hold- ing, the elephant typifies scandal. Forty knowledge that the man who dared scold him, a master mason, about masonry, is cartooned for all time. Another carves the face of his sweetheart into some obscure nook — and so it went. The grotesque, carved into a cathedral, often was the Middle Age equivalent of the present day- cartoon. Architects Lampoon Modern Foibles Likewise with the Tribune. When girder and beam, panel and floor, had all been planned, the architects had their fun — not unlike the master masons of six and seven hundred years ago. They tucked away grotesques here and there in the ornamental stone work, choosing for targets peculiar types of people in modern life and the restless attributes of the American people. They turned to the plant, insect and animal life for symbols with which to tell their story. And in Tribune Tower, carved in stone, is a narrative of the virtues and vices and achieve- ments of man. Allied to the grotesques, but done in serious mood, are the rectangular lead spandrels. They are decorated with three important insignia which are alternated throughout the Tower. In the following table is identified each of the grotesques in Tribune Tower, together with a brief explanation of their symbolic connotation. Explanation of Gargoyles At the first floor level to the right and left of the entrance arch the four natural elements have been symbolized. Fire is represented by a fire dragon; water by the lobster; earth by the prairie dog and air by the American bittern. Forty-one The arches below these symbols are bordered with a strawberry plant motif. In the panels above, the thistle and the beechnut are carved in stone. Another entrance panel reveals a wild rose border, and, immediately below, an arched border of the leaf and seed of the maple. Underneath this ornament the bumblebee is given a home. The arch above the doorway is bordered with a design of dogwood. At the fourth floor level the ape located directly below the balcony represents the busy- body type familiar to all of us. The elephant wearing glasses and holding his nose symbolizes scandal. The frog suggests those who are ever alert and eager to make themselves heard. The wise old owl with a camera in his grip represents the observant, cautious type of individual. The wolf and the dog symbolize radicalism as compared with conservatism. The sheep and the gorilla visualize for us the law-abiding and anarchistic traits of humanity. The ape and the bear are representatives of activity and its opposite, indolence. The American plane tree or button ball and the pine leaf are used as border decorations at this level. Features of the Entrance Arch Maize (Indian corn) is the central motif over the great arch at the Michigan Avenue entrance. It is a picture in stone of our country's agricul- tural greatness. Forty-two The weird head of a man with his hands to his mouth in a whispering attitude, personifies in stone the spirit of insidious rumor. A man's head in a shouting attitude, with a flame leaping from his head, suggests open rumor, or news, as opposite to its companion grotesque just described. The jleur de lis, national flower of France, is used just below the fourth floor windows to remind us of the heroic deeds of our American boys on the battlefields of France. Worked into the canopies over the fourth floor windows is another series of grotesques. The American porcupine with a horn in his paws symbolizes intolerance and arrogance. The rat bearing an old-fashioned blunderbuss characterizes cruelty and maliciousness. The monkey with cap and bauble is the symbol of folly. The crowned dog, his paw caught in a mouse trap, is the symbol of pomposity. The cat holding a tin cup represents improvi- dence. Lizards, swifts, owls and other plant and animal figures carry out the unusual theme of Tribune Tower ornamentation. Aesop's Screen Over the doorway of Tribune Tower is the magnificently carved stone screen. It is replete with imagery, explanation of which is as follows: 1. and 2. Figures commemorating the Tribune editors in the World War. 3. The Howling Dog, and 4, Robin Hood. Humorous characterizations of John Mead Forty-three The Magnificent Stone ^ 000 ^^f%^P) Carved Screen >^^^ 3 Perched among the branches of this delicately carved tree, are weird figures and characters from the fables of Aesop. Forty-four of Life Each figure represents a fable whose moral is applicable to the lives of all of us. Descriptions will be found on pages 4J to 49. Forty-five Howells and Raymond H. Hood, architects of Tribune Tower. 5. Zeus, mythical ruler of gods and men, whose most effective weapons were thunderbolts — and whose favorite bird was the eagle. 6-8. The Partridge and the Cocks. A partridge was captured by a man, who clipped his wings and put him in a pen with some game-cocks. The cocks were not at all civil to the partridge, who thought it was because he was a stranger. Later, he saw them fighting each other — and understood. 7. The Raven and the Serpent. A hungry raven decided to eat a snake, which he had discovered lying asleep. On seizing him in his beak, however, the snake bit the raven with his poisonous fangs and he died in agony. "I am justly served," gasped the dying raven, "for trying to profit by injur- ing others. " 9. The Peacock and the Crane. In which a peacock, strutting about, spread his gor- geous tail and, boasting of his beauty, ridiculed the somber colors of the crane. "Tell me," said the crane, "is it better to strut about in the mud as you do, or to soar above the clouds, as I do?" 10. Remembering the humorous nickname given the French by American doughboys, a frog has been carved into the screen, to represent J. A. Fouilhoux, partner of Howells and Hood, architects of Tribune Tower. 11. A Parrot. A warning against idle talk, senseless repetition, and servile imitation. 12. The Cat and the Fox. In which the fox, Forty-six who boasted a hundred ways of escaping his enemies, was caught by the hounds; while the cat, who preferred one safe way, sits unharmed in the tree. 13. The Porcupine and the Snakes. A porcupine begged the shelter of their cave from some snakes, who readily admitted him. His sharp quills so annoyed them, however, that they soon regretted their unthinking hospitality and asked him to leave. "I am quite satisfied where I am," said the porcu- pine, "but you may leave, if you wish." 14. An Owl — symbol of wisdom. 15. The Bear and the Beehive. In which a bear, searching for honey, attacked a beehive and was promptly stung. He who wantonly hurts others, places himself in a position to be hurt by others. 16. The Eagle and the Fox. One day an eagle carried off the cub of his good friend and neighbor, the fox. On discovering his loss, the fox upbraided the eagle and begged him to return his young one. The eagle, think- ing himself secure up in the tree, refused to do so, whereupon the fox built a fire under the tree and the eagle, fearing for the safety of its own offspring, returned to the fox its cub. 17. The Fox and the Crow. A hungry crow, enjoying a piece of cheese on a tree branch, was flattered by a wily fox into singing a song. At the first note, however, the cheese fell to the ground and was promptly de- voured by the fox. 18. While carving the delicate tracery cf the screen, Rene Chambellan was jokingly called "The Wop" by laborers on the Forty-seven Tower. And so, to typify the nationality erroneously thrust upon him, he carved into the screen a bunch of bananas. 19. The Wolf, the Fox and the Ape. A wolf charged a fox with stealing his meat and the case was tried before an ape, who, after hearing all the evidence, said: "You, master fox, have certainly stolen what is laid to your charge; but you, master wolf, do not appear to have come honestly by what you have lost." 20. The Crow and the Pitcher. A crow, whose throat was parched from thirst, came upon a pitcher with a little water in the bottom of it. He tried desperately to reach the water, but failing each time, was about to give up in despair when an idea occurred to him. Slowly, one by one, he dropped pebbles into the pitcher, until they forced the water up to where he could drink. 21. The Fox and the Grapes. A fox, stealing into a vineyard, noticed a particularly luscious bunch of grapes hanging from the top of a vine. He climbed and jumped after them time after time without success until at last, giving up in disgust he exclaimed, "I didn't want those grapes anyway — I'm sure they were sour." 22. The Boar and the Fox. A fox chanced one day upon a boar carefully sharpening his tusks against a tree. "Why," he asked, "do you prepare for battle when there are no enemies in sight?" "Because," replied the boar, "when enemies are in sight, I may not have time to sharpen my tusks." 23. The Wolf and the Crane. A wolf, in whose Forty-eight throat a bone had stuck, promised anything to him who would remove it. A crane offered to help and at last succeeded in dis- lodging the bone. But when he claimed his reward, the wolf replied with a growl, "Be content — you have put your head into a wolf's mouth and taken it out again. That is enough reward.' ' Insidious rumor is typified by this stone grotesque of a whis- pering man. News is personified by this flaming head of a shouting man. Forty-nine V The Story of the Tower When the Chicago Tribune in 1902 erected its seventeen-story building at the corner of Dearborn and Madison streets, it thought it was providing facilities for manufacturing pur- poses for many years to come. But in less than fifteen years it found its quarters outgrown. A new building not only was needed, but an entirely new site also. In the discussions that followed, it was decided that this new location must conform to certain definite requirements. It should be close to the center of the city; it should be on a switch track; and, if possible, should be located on the Chicago river in order to be near to ships bringing newsprint direct from the Tribune's paper mills in Canada. Tribune Square was the site eventually decided on. It conformed to all the primary requirements except that it was not actually located on, but was just within a few hundred feet of the Chicago river. However, it had so many other distinct advantages that it was practically ideal. It fronted on Michigan Avenue, the most important street in Chicago. It was close to the center of the city. It had a switch track, and most important of all, it was on a double-decked street, the lower level of Fifty which provides excellent facilities for distribut- ing newspapers. The location, an entire city block in area, was purchased in 1919. Shortly after, preliminary work was begun. The first building to be erected on Tribune Square was the six story plant, acknowledged to be a model in every respect. Four years after the plant was completed the Tribune again had outgrown itself and needed more elbow room. Improvement of the rest of Tribune Square became imperative. It was decided to hold an international competition, open to licensed architects, for the design of an office building to be the most beautiful in the world. $100,000 Prize Competition To accomplish this the Tribune announced a $100,000 competition for designs. $50,000 was to be awarded for the winning design, $20,000 for the second, and $10,000 for the third. In addition, ten architects of national reputatior were invited to compete, and offered $2,000 apiece, irrespective of possible prize money, for their designs. Two hundred and eighty-five designs were received in all. Of this number 170 were from America and 115 from 22 foreign countries. All drawings were submitted anonymously, the jury of award having no information as to the identities of the architects until after the win- ning design had been selected. By unanimous vote of the jury first prize was awarded to John Mead Howells and Raymond M. Hood, associate architects of New York. Indicative of the international flavor of the contest, the second prize of $20,000 was Fifty-one awarded to Eliel Saarinen of Helsingfors, Fin- land. The third prize of $10,000 went to Hola- bird & Roche of Chicago. Construction work started on the Tower in May, 1923, and continued until its completion two years later in May, 1925. All departments, excepting editorial and mechanical which had been housed in the plant for several years, moved into the Tower in March, 1925. In creating the design for Tribune Tower, inspiration was used without copying. There are two other buildings in the world which suggest in general mass and design Tribune Tower, but which have no relation to it either in size or use. They are the famous Butter Tower in Rouen, France, and the Tower of Malines in Belgium. Both of these buildings are Gothic towers attached to cathedrals, and, of course, have no such function as Tribune Tower, which is primarily a practical office building. A Study in Vertical Lines In design and composition such towers are naturally vertical. By this is meant that they are many times higher than they are wide. In their design, partly, because they are Gothic, the vertical lines are accentuated, and the horizontal lines suppressed. Because the American skyscraper is very much higher than it is wide, the design becomes a study in vertical lines — just the same sort of problem as the design of the old Gothic towers. This is true of Tribune Tower. It is easily noticeable how the tall columns of the windows are deeply recessed in order to obtain this effect. Fifty-two Tribune Tower is a stone skyscraper square in plan, and isolated on all sides. Owing to peculiar features of crowded American city life, skyscrapers have come to have certain unit characteristics. The few lower stories which can be seen from the street must be interesting and decorative. The top which can be seen against the sky from other buildings, or from a consider- able distance, must have a dignified, and, if possible, beautiful silhouette. Tribune Tower, then, it would seem, is typical and ideal in design of that kind of tall building called the skyscraper. The Chicago Tribune believes that in this beautiful Tower it has a building of significance, and that its resolve to build worthily has been carried out in every respect. No materials but the finest went into its construction. No effort or expense was spared in its completion. The Tribune is confident that all who see the Tower will endorse the selection of this design. Competent observers have called it the world's most beautiful office building. It is truly a fitting home for the world's greatest newspaper. Fifty-three *^^*^**»^**fc^*»^'«»^»**^^^ VI Some Facts About Tribune Square Tribune Tower rises 36 stories, 456 feet above the level of Michigan avenue. Its 60 caissons descend 125 feet to bed rock. Below the street level there are seven floors whose space is given over to printing presses, heating and lighting plants, paper storage, and the various mechanical departments necessary to the Tower's functional efficiency. The Tower's frame is of steel, fire-proofed with concrete, and the outer walls are of Indiana limestone in variegated shades of gray. Its construction called for 9,316 tons of steel, and 13,160 tons, or 188,000 cubic feet, of stone. Noteworthy among the building's thousands of steel beams is the mighty 65-ton girder spanning the entrance at the fourth floor. In the very unlikely event of fire, safe exit is provided for by interior stairways of steel. If, in building the Tower, the Chicago Tribune had been less devoted to its ideal of beauty, it could have saved much revenue-producing space by adopting the older method of placing fire escapes outside the building. Thanks to this devotion, no ugly steel stairways mar the Tower's exterior loveliness. Fifty -four Tribune Square is a veritable city in itself. Every working day approximately 3,000 persons labor within its walls. Of this number about 2,500 are associated with the Tribune. The remainder are tenants and their employes. Here is a city that consumes more than 135,- 000,000 gallons of water annually, uses more than 18,000 electric lights, and has approxi- mately 5,000 motors operated by push-button control. Many manufacturing activities, the combina- tion of which makes the single tremendous enterprise of manufacturing the Tribune, are housed within the Tower and the plant. This city in miniature has a library, post office, a telegraph station, and several shops. Electricity Plays a Big Part For manufacturing, lighting and other pur- poses, more than 1,000,000 kilowatt hours of elec- tricity are used every month in Tribune Square. This huge volume of current is received from four generating stations over sixteen separate feeder lines, any four of which are capable of providing the entire Tribune plant with suffi- cient current. Through this arrangement, con- tinuous operation is assured. As far as is humanly possible, nothing is permitted to inter- fere with the business of getting out the world's greatest newspaper. Nothing short of the highly improbable breakdown of four great generating stations at the same time could stop the run- ning of Tribune presses. Everywhere throughout Tribune Tower elec- tricity is found performing difficult tasks, noise- lessly and instantaneously. The stereotype Fijty-five machines operate electrically. So do trie con- veyors which carry the fifty-pound press plates from the foundry to the electrically-driven presses. So do the belt conveyors which move hundreds of tons of paper back and forth through the mailing room each day. Even the metal in the linotype machines is melted by electricity. The battery of pneumatic tubes, totalling more than three and one quarter miles in length, which carry news items to the news room in Tribune Tower from the offices of the Associ- ated Press and of the City News Bureau at Clark and Randolph streets, are operated by electrically driven, forty horse power air com- pressors located in the basement of the plant. Two electrically-driven pumps are depended on for fire protection. They are capable of ex- pelling water at a pressure of from 150 to 210 pounds to the square inch. These pumps take their current direct from the electric mains in the street, and cannot be interfered with by any trouble at the switchboard in the Tribune's Tower Is Air Conditioned Regardless of conditions outside, the temper- ature inside Tribune Tower is always comfort- able. An air conditioning system, completed in June, 1934 keeps the inside atmosphere cool and dry in summer, and at the proper, healthful humidity in winter. No matter how high the mercury soars, or how stickily humid the sum- mer day becomes, the air conditioning system dries the air and reduces the indoor temperature of the Tower fifteen degrees below that prevail- ing outside. In winter, by circulating moisture, Fifty-six the system compensates for the loss of humidity caused by heating. Tribune Tower's air conditioning system is the largest of its kind in the world. It has a cooling capacity equal to the melting of 600 tons of ice per day. Four hundred individual conditioning units are installed in the offices of the Tribune and of its tenants. In addition to the individual units, five central type units are in use. These dry, cool or humidify the air, according to season, in the editorial, composing, press, mailing and paper-reel rooms. They also condition the air of the fifth, sixth and seventh floors. The Tower air conditioning system cost approximately $400,000. Drinking water is furnished all Tribune departments through a system of sanitary drinking fountains. In the boiler room an ingenious filter apparatus takes the city water, sterilizes and cools it, and supplies the pressure which forces it many floors skyward. The seventh floor below the level of Michigan avenue, where the Tower's furnaces, boilers and air conditioning plant are located, is entered by a spur of the underground electric railroad which operates far below the streets of the downtown district. It enters the Tower through a tunnel built beneath the Chicago river. Through this arrangement the hundreds of tons of ashes produced by the Tower's huge furnaces are disposed of. Fifty-seven 0ty+mfy+mty+mj^m^mty+mfy*m!fi l *>mty+^^ VII The Workshop of the World's Greatest Newspaper While Tribune Tower is the most beautiful commercial building in the world, it is primarily the workshop of the world's greatest newspaper. It is a great manufacturing plant no less than a great office building; a plant in which more than 6,000,000 newspapers are manufactured every week. Practical utility had its place in the scheme of its construction no less than beauty. In building the Tower the Chicago Tribune had to remember that its main function was to provide facilities for manufacturing a standard-size newspaper whose daily circulation was not only the largest in America, but which gave every indication of expanding on an even larger scale in the future. The Tower had to be constructed so that the immense job of getting out the Tribune could be performed with maximum ease and efficiency. Floors were so planned and correlated that the allied activities of editorial and mechanical departments would dovetail. Departments were so arranged that the various steps taken in getting out the Tribune — from assembling the news to distributing the printed paper — fol- lowed each other in swift, logical progress. Fifty-eight T ""1 Beautiful hand-wrought elevator doors carry out the decorative motif with their grotesques and pierced detail. Fifty-nine How efficiently these arrangements were made can be seen from the following tabulation of the Tribune's principal departments. Start- ing upward from the seventh and lowest sub- basement of the Tower, Tribune departments are arranged in the following order: The seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth and third sub-basement floors are used for paper storage, and also house the Tribune's heating, lighting, and ventilation plants. On the second sub-basement floor are 100 reels located directly underneath the printing units in the pressroom on the first basement floor. Production Flows Without Interruption The first basement floor contains part of the mailing room which, by conveyor, receives news- papers directly from the presses on the same floor. On this floor also is the stereotype foundry which makes the metal plates used for printing the Tribune. Coming above ground to the first floor, we find off the lobby of the Tower a branch of the Public Service Office. In the rear is another section of the mailing and routing room. On the second floor is the circulation depart- ment, and another section of the mailing room. Here also is the job printing shop where the Tribune prints matter other than the news- paper. The third floor houses the composing room where 91 typesetting machines and many "hand" men set the Tribune in type. In the rear is the matrix department. On the fourth floor is the news room, where news is assembled and edited. Here also is the Sixty "Sunday" room wherein the special features of the Sunday Tribune are prepared. Also on the fourth floor is the reference room contain- ing millions of newspaper clippings and photo- graphs. Nearby is the engraving room where photographs and drawings are prepared for reproduction. On the fifth floor is the Ben Day room. The color engraving room is on the sixth floor. The rest of the fifth and sixth and all of the seventh floors house the auditing department and its divisions. Headquarters of the Tribune's national ad- vertising department and the office of the ad- vertising manager are located on the eighth floor. There is also a large conference room used for departmental and sales meetings. The retail advertising department has its offices on the ninth floor. The ninth floor also contains the Business Survey department where trade statistics are compiled and analyzed. On the tenth floor is the third of the Tribune's major advertising divisions, the classified or want-ad department. Complex, Interrelated Activities On the twelfth floor are the offices of the busi- ness manager and the traffic department. Tribune advertisers have advertising written and illustrated for them in the Copy and Art department on the thirteenth floor. Sixty-one Aiso on the thirteenth floor are the production and purchasing departments. On the fourteenth floor are the offices of the Employes Benefit Plan. On the sixteenth floor is the office of the building. On the twentieth floor is the studio wherein are made many of the color and black-and-white photographs seen in Tribune features. On the twenty-fourth floor are the offices of the editor and publisher, and the editorial writers. The library is also on this floor. Finally, on the twenty-fifth, twenty-seventh and thirty-first floors are the studios of the editorial cartoonists. Some idea of the efficiency with which this arrangement of Tribune departments works may be had from the following outline of certain correlated activities: The Course of a Story An important news story "breaks," say, in Deihi. A Tribune correspondent cables the story to Chicago where it is received at the cable desk in the news room on the fourth floor of the Tower. Here it is edited, in company with other foreign news, domestic news received by wire, and local news coming from reporters in person, by telephone and from other sources. Mechanical conveyors then take the manu- script down to the composing room on the floor below. The news is set in type and arranged in page forms together with an appropriate amount of advertising. These forms are then sent to the Sixty-two matrix room on the same floor, where they are impressed on papier-mache mats to form the molds necessary to make the metal stereotypes from which the Tribune is printed. When fin- ished, the matrices go to the stereotype foundry in the first basement. From the foundry auto- matic conveyors carry the 50-pound metal plates to the printing presses on the same floor. From there the movement of manufacturing processes starts upward. Printed papers are automatically conveyed from the printing presses to the various sections of the mailing and sorting room on the floors above. From there they are quickly distributed by chutes to the fleet of trucks waiting to rush them to newsstands and trains. Heavy materials used for manufacturing and other purposes are received at the north and south sides of the Tower. Switch-track facilities enable freight trains to line up alongside the Tribune's receiving platforms. With the opening of navigation on the Great Lakes in 1930, water transport began to play an important part in the handling of Tribune news- print. In its own and chartered ships, the Tribune started bringing paper by water direct from its paper mill at Thorold to Chicago. Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan are sailed before the paper is unloaded in Tribune warehouses on the north bank of the Chicago River. From the ware- houses newsprint is conveyed to Tribune Tower by an underground narrow gauge railroad oper- ated by gravity. Stored below the printing presses, paper rises as needed to the press-reels on the second base- ment floor. From there the process is continu- Sixty-three ously upward to the boulevard level where the paper emerges in the form of newspapers ready for distribution. Leading the fleet engaged in carrying paper to Chicago is the Motorship "Chicago Tribune." Constructed from Tribune plans, the "Chicago Tribune" was launched in the spring of 1930. Its first cargo of paper was delivered to the Tribune in June of the same year. Revolu- tionary in design, the "Chicago Tribune" is also unique in being one of the first Diesel-engined cargo boats to ply the Great Lakes. Each trip from the paper mill requires eighty-four hours of sailing, and ends with the delivery of 3,000 tons of paper — enough to keep the Tribune going for about one week. During the naviga- tion season more than 100,000 tons of paper, made in the Tribune mill from trees cut in Tribune forests, are unloaded on the docks of Tribune warehouses. The Tribune welcomes visitors to its plant and is glad to show them the various operations necessary to produce the world's greatest news- paper. Except Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and the nights of elections, the Tribune provides expert guides to conduct visitors through the plant at regular intervals in the afternoon and evening. Afternoon trips start at 2:30 and 4:00. For the evening trip at 8:00 advance reserva- tions must be made by telephone. Sixty-four