[Chicago] Floodlighting – A Dignified Means of Revealing Architectural Designs

Architectural advertisement featuring the Wrigley Building in Chicago.

This advertising broadsheet was issued in 1922 by a producer of powerful floodlights used to illuminate buildings. It features the 425 foot tower of the Wrigley Building, completed the year prior by the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst & White. Detailed diagrams show the location of individual projectors on the structure, while a black and white photograph provides a visual measure of the impact of nighttime illumination.

Those familiar with the building will notice that the second tower is absent – it would not be completed until 1924. At the time it was built, the Wrigley Building stood alone on the north bank of the Chicago River, and the bridge connecting it to the Loop was still under construction. A small inset map at the top of the sheet provides some additional context to this early period in Chicago’s architectural history.