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Michael
Hawkins
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ONE RIVER PLACE
Project type
Adaptive Re-use
Location
Chicago, illinois
Client
Enterprise Development
Architect
FitzGerald Associates Architects
Role
Lead Designer
FitzGerald Associates Architects provided architectural services in the adaptive reuse of the nine-story Montgomery Ward Merchandise Building—originally constructed by Montgomery Ward as the headquarters for his burgeoning catalog company—in 2000. One of the first cast-inplace concrete structures in Chicago, the entire building, walls, columns, floor slabs, and roof are concrete. A full restoration was completed on the statue of Cirrus adorning the tower on the northeast corner of the building, marking the entrance. The statue was installed by Montgomery Ward after he acquired it from the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago.
FitzGerald designed a floor plan that would accommodate a total of 241 condominiums with luxurious penthouse units constructed in the former mechanical penthouse that feature nearly-unrivaled panoramic city views. Due to the vast area of the building’s floor plates, two central light courts were carved into the building down to the second floor, allowing the creation of inward-facing units with their own balconies in an otherwise unusable interior floor space.
Parking for 241 vehicles is provided on the basement and first floors while the residents occupy the second through eighth floors.
Program:
- 9 stories, existing cast-in-place concrete
- 241 loft condominium units
- 690 to 1,440 sq ft units
- 450,000 gross building area
- 241 enclosed parking spaces











