rare c. 1887-89 ornamental wrought interior auditorium theater box seat grille salvaged from adler and sullivan's auditorium building (1889) in the 1930s. the sullivan-designed hand wrought panel exhibits a unique interplay between elaborate scrolls and delicate ribbons riveted together and reinforced with layered straps. the original bower-barff remains largely intact under an early allover crazed black paint finish. attributed to snead ironworks or winslow brothers foundry, chicago, ills. the auditorium building is one of the best-known designs of dankmar adler and louis sullivan. the theater was the first home of the chicago civic opera and the chicago symphony orchestra. ferdinand peck, a chicago businessman, incorporated the chicago auditorium association in december 1886 to develop what he wanted to be the world's largest, grandest, most expensive theater that would rival such institutions as the metropolitan opera house in new york city. he was said to have wanted to make high culture accessible to the working classes of chicago. the building was to include an office block and a first class hotel. peck persuaded many chicago business tycoons to go on board with him, including marshall field, edson keith, martin ryerson, and george pullman. the association hired the renowned architectural firm of dankmar adler and louis sullivan to design the building. at the time, a young frank lloyd wright was employed at the firm as draftsman. adler and sullivan designed a tall structure with load-bearing outer walls, and based the exterior appearance partly on the design of h.h. richardson's marshall field warehouse, another chicago landmark. the auditorium is a heavy, impressive structure externally, and was more striking in its day when buildings of its scale were less common. when completed in 1889, it was the tallest building in the city and largest building in the united states. one of the most innovative features of the building was its massive raft foundation, designed by adler in conjunction with engineer paul mueller. the soil beneath the auditorium consists of soft blue clay to a depth of over 100 feet, which made conventional foundations impossible. adler and mueller designed a floating mat of crisscrossed railroad ties, topped with a double layer of steel rails embedded in concrete, the whole assemblage coated with pitch. the resulting raft distributed the weight of the massive outer walls over a large area. however, the weight of the masonry outer walls in relation to the relatively lightweight interior deformed the raft during the course of a century, and today portions of the building have settled as much as 29 inches. this deflection is clearly visible in the theater lobby, where the mosaic floor takes on a distinct slope as it nears the outer walls. this settlement is not because of poor engineering but the fact the design was changed during construction. the original plan had the exterior covered in lightweight terra-cotta, but this was changed to stone after the foundations were under construction. in the center of the building was a 4,300 seat auditorium, originally intended primarily for production of grand opera. in keeping with peck's democratic ideals, the auditorium was designed so that all seats would have good views and acoustics. the original plans had no box seats and when these were added to the plans they did not receive prime locations. housed in the building around the central space was an 1890 addition of 136 offices and a 400-room hotel, whose purpose was to generate much of the revenue to support the opera. while the auditorium building was not intended as a commercial building, peck wanted it to be self-sufficient. revenue from the offices and hotel was meant to allow ticket prices to remain reasonable. in reality, both the hotel and office block became unprofitable within a few years. on october 5, 1887, president grover cleveland laid the cornerstone for the auditorium building. the 1888 republican national convention was held in a partially finished building where benjamin harrison was nominated as a presidential candidate. on december 9, 1889 president benjamin harrison dedicated the building and opera star, adelina patti, sang home sweet home to thunderous applause. sullivan had also opened his offices on the 16th and 17th floors of the auditorium tower. the chicago symphony orchestra debuted on october 16, 1891 and made its home in the auditorium theatre until moving to orchestra hall in 1904. theodore roosevelt gave his famous bull moose speech in 1912 at the auditorium and was nominated for president of the united states by the independent national progressive party. the opera company renting the accommodation moved to the civic opera house in 1929, and the auditorium theatre closed during the great depression. in 1941, it was taken over by the city of chicago to be used as a world war ii servicemen's center. by 1946, roosevelt university moved into the auditorium building and has remained there to this day.
