Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

The partnership of Skidmore and Owings in Chicago was started by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Alexander Owings after both had participated in the planning and construction of the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition. This firm became Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with the addition of John Merrill in 1939. The firm had offices in Chicago and New York City. One of the firm’s leading designers had his start with SOM designing the Hostess Pavilion of the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in late 1941 and early 1942. This led the firm in spreading its form of Americanized corporate modernism around the world, from corporate headquarters in New York for Lever Brothers in 1952, Union Carbide in 1960, and Chase Manhattan Bank in 1961, to the American consulates in Dusseldorf and Bremen in 1954, the Hilton Hotel of 1955 in Istanbul, and Banque Lambert in Brussels in 1965. SOM’s Chicago partners, such as Walter A. Netsch and Bruce Graham, were equally influential in shaping the firm’s destiny.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the Chicago Apparel Center in 1977, increasing The Merchandise Mart’s total square footage to 6.2 million. This firm addressed the lack of pedestrian amenities such as plazas, esplanades and overlooks that would take advantage of the waterfront location. This team designed the Gateway Center, an air rights development along the west bank of the Chicago River that incorporated river walks with foliage, seating and belvederes projecting over the surface of the water.

Other works of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill include:
The Administration Building at the University of Chicago, the AT&T Building and the NBC Tower, One North Franklin Street, the 1953 Greyhound Bus Terminal (Loop Transportation Center),the Brunswick Building and the Republic Building, a newspaper plant in Columbus, Indiana, the Inland Steel Building on West Monroe Street, the Hancock Center and Garage in 1965, the Sears Tower in 1974, the Baxter Travenol Laboratories in Deerfield, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Ground-floor shopping concourse within the Continental Bank and Trust Co., Chicago Place on Michigan Avenue, the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center Extension, the Sioux City Art Center and along with other firms, SOM designed the Richard J. Daley Center (formerly the Chicago Civic Center) SOM with other architectural firms, was hired by the Chicago Housing Authority to design high-rise apartment buildings in the 1950s, Ogden Courts on Ogden and Fairfield avenues and the Henry Horner Homes on Washington Street.