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McCormick Place
McCormick Place is a convention center in Chicago. It is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about 1.0 mi (1.6 km) south of the Chicago Loop. McCormick Place hosts numerous trade shows and meetings. The largest regular events are the Chicago Auto Show each February, the International Home and Housewares Show each March, the National Restaurant Association Annual Show each May, and the International Manufacturing Technology Show in the fall every other year.
As early as 1927, Robert R. McCormick, a prominent member of the McCormick family of McCormick Reaper/International Harvester fame, and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, championed a purpose-built lakeside convention center for Chicago. In 1958, ground was broken for a $35 million facility that opened in November 1960, and was named after McCormick, who died in 1955. The lead architect was Alfred Shaw, one of the architects of the Merchandise Mart. This building included the Arie Crown Theater, designed by Edward Durell Stone. It seated nearly 5,000 people and was the second largest theater (by seating capacity) in Chicago.
The 1960 exposition hall was destroyed in a fire on January 16, 1967, despite being thought fireproof by virtue of its steel-and-concrete construction. At the time of the fire, the building contained highly combustible exhibits, several hydrants were shut off, and there were no sprinklers on the main floor where the fire started. Thus the fire spread quickly and destructively, taking the life of security guard Kenneth Goodman.
The fire was investigated by a team led by Rolf H. Jensen, Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, who went on to found RJA Group. Many lessons were learned and building, electrical, and fire codes for the city and worldwide were amended.
Although many wanted to rebuild the hall on a different site, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley chose to rebuild on the foundations of the burned building. The new design of dark steel and glass, by Gene Summers of C. F. Murphy and Associates (and formerly of Mies van der Rohe's office), contrasted with the white look of the structure that had burned. On January 3, 1971, the replacement building, later called the East Building and now called the Lakeside Center, opened with a 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) main exhibition hall. The Arie Crown Theatre sustained only minor damage in the 1967 fire, and so was incorporated into the interior of the new building. The theater, with the largest seating capacity of any active theater in Chicago (the Uptown Theatre has more seating, but is currently closed), underwent major modifications in 1997 to improve its acoustics.
On March 27, 2020, the United States Army Corps of Engineers announced that the complex would begin transforming convention space into a 3,000-bed hospital during the COVID-19 crisis. The $15 million project was paid for by FEMA and was scheduled for completion on April 30.
In 2021, it was proposed to turn Lakeside Center into a Rivers Casino, as part of the Chicago Casino Proposals.
The windows at McCormick Place Lakeside Center, which make up most of the building's exterior, encompass an area of 120,000 square feet (2.75 acres). In 2023, on a single night at the height of the fall bird migration, nearly 1,000 birds crashed into the building's windows and died. The following year, Lakeside Center spent $1.2 million and three months to apply arrays of small white dots, designed to be visible to birds, using adhesive film. An analysis showed that the number of birds colliding with windows at the building during the fall migration season dropped by more than 95%.
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McCormick Place
McCormick Place is a convention center in Chicago. It is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about 1.0 mi (1.6 km) south of the Chicago Loop. McCormick Place hosts numerous trade shows and meetings. The largest regular events are the Chicago Auto Show each February, the International Home and Housewares Show each March, the National Restaurant Association Annual Show each May, and the International Manufacturing Technology Show in the fall every other year.
As early as 1927, Robert R. McCormick, a prominent member of the McCormick family of McCormick Reaper/International Harvester fame, and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, championed a purpose-built lakeside convention center for Chicago. In 1958, ground was broken for a $35 million facility that opened in November 1960, and was named after McCormick, who died in 1955. The lead architect was Alfred Shaw, one of the architects of the Merchandise Mart. This building included the Arie Crown Theater, designed by Edward Durell Stone. It seated nearly 5,000 people and was the second largest theater (by seating capacity) in Chicago.
The 1960 exposition hall was destroyed in a fire on January 16, 1967, despite being thought fireproof by virtue of its steel-and-concrete construction. At the time of the fire, the building contained highly combustible exhibits, several hydrants were shut off, and there were no sprinklers on the main floor where the fire started. Thus the fire spread quickly and destructively, taking the life of security guard Kenneth Goodman.
The fire was investigated by a team led by Rolf H. Jensen, Professor of Fire Protection Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, who went on to found RJA Group. Many lessons were learned and building, electrical, and fire codes for the city and worldwide were amended.
Although many wanted to rebuild the hall on a different site, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley chose to rebuild on the foundations of the burned building. The new design of dark steel and glass, by Gene Summers of C. F. Murphy and Associates (and formerly of Mies van der Rohe's office), contrasted with the white look of the structure that had burned. On January 3, 1971, the replacement building, later called the East Building and now called the Lakeside Center, opened with a 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) main exhibition hall. The Arie Crown Theatre sustained only minor damage in the 1967 fire, and so was incorporated into the interior of the new building. The theater, with the largest seating capacity of any active theater in Chicago (the Uptown Theatre has more seating, but is currently closed), underwent major modifications in 1997 to improve its acoustics.
On March 27, 2020, the United States Army Corps of Engineers announced that the complex would begin transforming convention space into a 3,000-bed hospital during the COVID-19 crisis. The $15 million project was paid for by FEMA and was scheduled for completion on April 30.
In 2021, it was proposed to turn Lakeside Center into a Rivers Casino, as part of the Chicago Casino Proposals.
The windows at McCormick Place Lakeside Center, which make up most of the building's exterior, encompass an area of 120,000 square feet (2.75 acres). In 2023, on a single night at the height of the fall bird migration, nearly 1,000 birds crashed into the building's windows and died. The following year, Lakeside Center spent $1.2 million and three months to apply arrays of small white dots, designed to be visible to birds, using adhesive film. An analysis showed that the number of birds colliding with windows at the building during the fall migration season dropped by more than 95%.