Why Chicago's Soldier Field is Ugly

in Chicago's cultural and social Zeal of the 1920s the construction of Soldier Field Stadium emerged as a tangible symbol of the rapidly changing City reflecting the vibrant energy and rampid growth of those years situated on the picturesque shores of Lake Michigan Soldier Field is emblematic of Chicago's Rich history and vibrant cultural landscape however in recent years when the city added a bizarre looking addition at top the historic structure it became the focal point of a controversial debate with the most passionate opponents spreading Notions of discontent and even accusations Of Dishonor so I guess the question is was Chicago's Soldier Field disgraced join me to find out as today we discover the history of soldier field and its Evolution between preservation and progress I'm your host Ryan soash and you're watching its history [Music] after the Great Fire of 1871 Chicago underwent significant rebuilding over several decades between 1906 in 1909 the Chicago industrialist committee financing work and construction in the town had begun to consider building in the lakefront area where there was an ample Green Space called Lake Park in fact Daniel Burnham and Edward H Bennett's 1909 plan for Chicago specifically designated this Lakefront area for sport sports activities before construction the land was most likely part of a natural Prairie or marshes from the onset this project was fraught with controversy with several citizens forming committees to protest the decision to build in the park you see like many other American cities Chicago was highly polluted and its rapid industrial growth contributed to the deterioration of living conditions so for several years legal battles blocked the realization of Burnham's project but these were overcome by political will for example during the first world war in July of 1918 5 months before the war's end a committee was formed to campaign for a temporary Memorial followed by a permanent one at the war's end several projects were presented but the most striking was a memorial with a colonade topped by a 500t tower with a statue the commission explicitly stated that all projects could be interesting that the aim was not only to create the conditions for celebration but also to help soldiers returning home after experiencing the hores of War a project was quickly agreed upon for the sports facility that would contribute to these soldiers health and enjoyment and that of the general population around this time there was a small temporary Stadium on the site of the Future Soldier Field which hosted several competitions between 1907 and 1913 in 1919 the play plans for the memorial and the stadium were merged and the competition for the project was reopened in the end halberd and root won the architectural competition to build the stadium the architect's design proved successful because they decided that the primary requirement was not that the stadium could be used for popular sports or even for the pageants military parades and political demonstrations rather the most important consideration they believed was aesthetic The Architects wrote quote The Field Museum is considered the head of the composition the access of the stadium being the same as that of the museum this attempt to conform to the field mum partly explains why the stadium was only 300 ft wide still the architect's justification for keeping the stadium sonero was what they considered to be the second essential requirement by concentrating the seating around the central part of the field they attempted to quote give the most significant number of people the best views of those athletic games and similar events hird and root had good reason for making the stadium compatible with the field museum letters between the competing Architects as a team and as a group and Perkins the head of the park commission made it clear that whatever they did The Architects were not to overwhelm The Field Museum the two adhered closely to these restrictions with two exceptions they considered the idea that the stadium should be a tribute to fallen soldiers that it should be a massive Memorial that would would be an impressive addition to the skyline they also slightly broke the height restrictions by raising the central stands to 60 feet allowing for more seating around the pitch than rival designs the proposed Monument looked like a cross between the Washington and Lincoln monuments it would have risen above the central stands of the stadium with columns at the same level as the colonade of the present stadium and many suspect that this design was modeled on the ancient musum at helicases one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and would have equaled or surpassed the entire facade of The Field Museum and that was just the base the Temple of the soldiers would have been in aalis four times as tall as the top of the arcade to design the colonades Haler and rud worked with a designer who had recently worked on the Lincoln Memorial another structure with dor columns the original configuration was u-shaped with the structure's opening fa facing the field museum this allowed for easy access to the field as well as a direct view on the nearby Field Museum for spectators originally not intended to be a football stadium the idea was to create a space to host various events including athletic competitions military exercises exhibitions and Community Gatherings while also serving as a place of remembrance the design was inspired by classical architecture the colonade facade of dor columns surrounding the stadium the stadium was built by the South Park commission which later merged with other commissions to form the Chicago Park District in 1934 and I have to wonder if those involved in the process had any idea that Soldier Field would become a monument to the era a flagship venue for the Golden Age of sports and today one of a few such stadiums Still Standing anyhow the stadium was built in three phases between 1922 and 1939 at $13 million it was officially opened on the 9th of October 1924 coinciding with the 53rd anniversary of the fire that destroyed the city's Municipal Grand Park Stadium the name was changed to Soldier Field on the 11th of November 1925 in memory of the US soldiers who died in war the neoclassical design pays homage to the ancient Roman Coliseum a facility of strength endurance and a sense of grandeur the people of Chicago had many reservations about the ongoing construction despite desite political pressure to build in the area there were still immense fears that new buildings would further spoil the environment and the fact that this new building was right up on the lake the city's water supply made it a key topic of environmental concern anyhow once completed the project demonstrated the architect's ability to reconcile the various demands large green spaces and a vast Park had been created around the stadium Chicagoans quickly embraced the new structure as a central place to celebrate the city's achievements and honor its Heroes the Stadium's construction had an essential impact on Sports in the city as the new facility allowed for the practice of many competitive Olympic style events and the documentation of Heritage here is quite amazing for example the park in front of the stadium contains several monuments most built in recent decades however one extraordinary and technically ancient Memorial dates back from the 1930s I'm talking about the mostly forgotten babo monument and you might be asking yourself if it's from the 1930s how is it ancient well let me explain an essential element of the memorial is a compressed stone column known as breia from a Roman structure on the shores of AA Italy dating back to the time of Julius Caesar a gift from musolini the monument was inaugurated on Italy day in 1934 during Chicago's second edition of the World's Fair A Century of progress musolini donated the column to the city to commemorate the Flight of the Italian amphibious plane that landed in Chicago in 1933 during the first year of the fair this transatlantic flight the first of its kind by the Italian Air Force was so technically demanding that the SE plane crew had trained together for over a year before the trip the Corinthian column was carefully dismantled loaded onto 24 sea planes transported and re re erected near the Italian Pavilion an airplane shaped building commemorating the feat of general bbo and his Squadron the Italian Pavilion was only temporary but the monument has always remained in the exact location near the harbor in Burnham Park other interesting monuments include the Chicago Bears statue of the famous player Walter pton and the team's founder and first coach George papa bear halis who for years has also been honored by the initials G s on the bearss official jersey anyhow both Browns statues are located at the Stadium's Southern entrance and were installed in 2019 in 2018 the Chicago Park District commemorated the flame of Hope which erected the 30ft tall steel sculpture entitled eternal flame of Hope in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Special Olympics the sculpture by Richard Hunt stands in the plaza next to Soldier Field where the first games were held 50 years ago in 1968 the Eternal Flame of Hope symbolizes the Special Olympics theme of inclusion unity and hope the sculpture weighs approximately 7,000 PBS and has a continuous flame that can grow up to 15 ft east of Soldier Field is the gold star families Memorial dedicated in 2006 which honors all police officers who have died or been injured in the line of duty since the founding of the Chicago Police Police Department in the late 1830s another important Monument is the Tribute to Freedom and water wall created in 2003 the bronze Monument depicts servicemen and women and their families relaxing on Chicago's Lakefront with the skyline in the background the figures represent Chicagoans from a wide range of historical periods this 50-ft sculpture is located at the north entrance to Soldier Field when completed Soldier Field contained 74,2 80 permanent seats in Pine bleachers and then an additional 30,000 temporary seats could be placed inside of the field itself on the upper Concourse as well as the large open Terrace beyond the North End Zone the first event held at Soldier Field was a 1,000 man police match which reportedly drew a crowd of 990,000 then the Stadium's first football game occurred when Notre Dame played Northwestern in November of 1924 with Notre Dame winning 12-6 among among the first competitions held at the stadium were two in the spring of 1925 this event was an inter Scholastic track and field meet sponsored by loyal University then there were the first annual Chicago Olympics sponsored by The Finnish American Athletic Association the loyal event featured one of the most famous athletes of the 1920s the flying man Pavo normi who had won five Olympic gold medals for Finland in the previous year but the stadium also hosted several other amateur sports there were five aside football and running events it hosted the first boxing event with a gate of over 2.5 million the first skiing match held in a stadium and then for the time at least there was the most significant football crowd Gathering ever at 123,000 people and attendance but still at this point in the story football had not taken center stage in Chicago in fact the first professional sport to be staged at Soldier Field is one more associated with Texas than Chicago Rodeo you see during the Heyday of the city's meat packing industry many Chicagoans including Richard J Daly before he entered politics worked as Cowboys rounding up cattle at the union Stockyards many men and women who attended the first rodeos at Soldier Field were Ranch hands rather than professionals on the rodeo circuit however the sport changed dramatically as Soldier Field became popular during the two world Wars and this is when the popularity of official Rodeo skyrocketed wild west shows more or less disappeared in the first professional Rodeo organizations were formed Rodeo Stars became professionals and in the years when Soldier Field rodeos were most popular similar shows in New York attracted up to 250,000 people but to be fair Soldier had been known at least with a cult following as a football stadium since about 1926 when there were Army Navy games but this would also be the year that Soldier Field would officially host its first professional League when on armus day a match took place between the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cardinals and this was something of a special event as the Bears would not officially move into the stadium until 1971 anyhow this event was for charity to help raise funds for the construction of rosary College in River Forest the Cardinals have occasionally played at the stadium since 1926 whereas the Bears and other professional teams have played the annual College Allstar games there since 1934 and it might surprise you to find out that the first professional football team to call Soldier Field home was the Chicago Rockets as a part of the all-new American Football Conference formed in 1946 the Rockets played Four Seasons at Soldier Field before changing their name to the Hornets for the 1949 season however the name changes in 1949 did not prevent the team from having another Lai season in fact the Hornets finished with a loss to the Cleveland Browns and a record of just four wins with eight losses the conference did not Faire much better and on the 9th of December 1949 conference officials reached an agreement that allowed the most popular teams Baltimore Cleveland and San Francisco to join the NFL there was talk of a Houston businessman buying the Hornets franchise for a short time but the news soon faded the Chicago car Cardinals used it as their home field for their final season in Chicago in 1959 the Chicago Cardinals was the franchise's original name and it's funny to think that most of us might not realize that as these days they're known as the Arizona Cardinals a decade later in September of 1971 the Chicago Bears moved in initially with a three-year commitment the Chicago Bears one of America's most essential and oldest franchises were founded in 1919 in decar Illinois the team moved to Chicago in 1921 and played at rickley Field Stadium until 1970 however they were forced to move to a larger venue due to post merger regulations between the AFL and the NFL which required stadiums to hold more than 50,000 Spectators and so it was on September the 19th 1971 the Bears played their first home game at Soldier Field defeating the Pittsburg Steelers 17-15 in 1978 the Bears and the Chicago Park District agreed to a 20-year lease and renovation of the stadium both parties pulled their resources for the renovation in 1971 the stadium underwent a significant preseason remodeling including new lighting playing surface and locker rooms redesigned seating now with backs and armrests and improved sight lines although nationally known as the home of De Bears Chicago's Soldier Field has a storyed history as a municipal venue and the site of countless sporting Civic and even religious events in 1968 Soldier Field hosted the first Special Olympics an international event for children and adults with disabilities there was also that time back in 1944 when up to 150,000 Spectators attended a wartime visit by President Franklin Roosevelt making it one of the most crowded political events in modern history there were also religious events such as the international meeting of protestant and the Orthodox Christian denominations as well as the celebration of the Catholic Marion year both of which are cited as the largest events held at the stadium in 1954 these events were made possible thanks to the presence of an impressive convention hall inside of the columned part of the building but not to get too off topic of course the reoccurring events are related to football matches and they are celebrated to this very day in fact those attending games often arrive a little early so that they can have fun at tailgate parties before each game these parties are held for free on the north side of the stadium the part is open to the public and features food music activities and sometimes performances by a drum line however change was on the horizon and the Tailgators would soon experience a drastic transformation in the scenery in the years to come considering its history Soldier Field received several awards for its importance to American Heritage as well as its architectural magn magnificence accordingly it was listed on the national register of historic places in 1984 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 this was done not only in honor of its architecture but also for its historical significance and major events of the 20th century and hence in 2001 the Chicago Park District which owns the facility faced considerable criticism when it announced plans to rebuild the stadium using a very radical design and to be fair to Chicago there was probably no easy way around this one since the Aging structure did not meet modern standards and the amenities offered were less than ideal now I have to warn you this next part is going to get pretty gross in short the sanitary situation was downright nasty a notion perhaps best captured by the Chicago Tribune in 2002 recalling quote it was halftime of the Bears home game against Jacksonville on January the 6th when Sanitation anarch broke out inside the crowded men's room near gate 9 drunken fans who apparently couldn't wait for an open urinal relieved themselves in the sinks outside the restrooms next to the bathroom lines stretched for more than 30 yards more desperate fans drained their bladders into empty beer cups behind the backs of watchful Buddies the situation around the Stadium's 40 portable toilets wasn't much better impatient increasingly irritable crowds rocked the green plastic ouses when someone inside was taking too long as far as football stadiums go Soldier Field is the worst from here the article goes on to explain what the stadium upgrade would achieve reading quote under the redesign the new stadium will have 326 urinals and4 toilets a vast improvement from its current 193 urinals 32 ft of urinal troughs and 83 toilets new ladies rooms will upgrade to 461 toilets nearly double their current number now I don't know about the rest of you and I don't know what the situation was like in the ladies room but I remember those horrific vile trough urinals from the perspective of a little kid and it's one of those memories that I'd much rather forget so suffice it to say that Chicago had some practical reason for Change and this is just the tip of the iceberg the poor seating arrangement meant that some seating selections actually had obstructed views the stadium was not easily accessible for people with disabilities and there were limited concession options this is why the Stadium's interior would be demolished almost entirely and rebuilt while the exterior would be preserved as an example of what once was so on the 19th of January 2002 the night the Bears lost the playoff to the Philadelphia Eagles demolition began and it began in the presence of an ongoing tailgating party somewhat astonishingly the crew managed to remove 24,000 Stadium seats and just 36 hours a speed record never since broken and this was just the first step towards constructing the new version of Soldier Field Soldier Field completed a 20-month renovation that upgraded the stadium and the surrounding grounds for multi-use events the stadium now hosts more than 200 days of events per year but the result is what took most Chicagoans by surprise and I remember my first impression of this well it looked as if a gigantic UFO had just crashed on the old historic building this new structure obscured the distinctive architectural features of the original Stadium at the West End Calver seating extends and dwarfs the colonades blocking the view of the arcades from all angles the outer skin of the new pool is a curval linear steel and glass Envelope as the Dora colonades were the most prominent architectural element of the stadium before the renovation the addition of the canal levered pool during the renov compromised the view of the arcades and the historical appearance as a result on the 23rd of September 2004 a 10- member Federal advisory committee unanimously recommended that Soldier Field be removed from the national register of historic places the recommendation for removal was prepared by Carol alren an architectural historian at the national park services Midwest regional office in Omaha Nebraska who as report reported by preservation online said quote if we had to let it go I think we would have lowered the standard of national historic landmarks across the country if we want to maintain the Integrity of the program let alone The Monuments we had no choice all the same the stadium lost its Landmark status on the 17th of February 2006 many critics argued that the redesign compromised the historic Integrity of Soldier Field and although agree with this assessment I'd also point out that preservationists often go out of their way to intentionally make modern additions look drastically different than any historical part of the structure this way Generations later people will be able to easily discern artifacts with replications for example when warsaw's royal castle was rebuilt back in the 1970s they made any non-original trim a bright and tacky looking artificial gold this distinction separates fact from fiction even so some citizens expressed dissatisfaction with the redesigned Stadium's visual appearance the juxtaposition of the original classical columns with the modern additions including the new seating bowl and exterior structure was perceived by some as architecturally jarring and perhaps the only thing more jarring than the way it looked was the price tag a result that the taxpayers paid dearly for we're talking hundreds of millions of dollars leading critics to question whether the significant investment in the stadium was justified especially given other pressing Financial priorities for the city but it's not all bad despite this the stadium is still considered to be one of the most important buildings in the city of Chicago moreover in May of 2012 Soldier Field became the first NFL stadium to achieve lead status a program that recognizes environmentally sustainable buildings I'd also point out that over the years some of the highly negative reviews of it architecture have been reconsidered and these days it's accepted as an essential model for contemporary architecture and the ability to integrate the past with the present the stadium remains an icon for the city and Beyond in fact the first commercial promoting cell phones was produced in Chicago's Soldier Field car park you might even say that despite architectural changes that have significantly altered the original structure the home of the Chicago bearers still retains the charm of an iconic 19th century American Building you just have to ignore the newer and dare I say hideous looking upper half anyway that's just my opinion and I'm totally biased on this one as my own father took me to countless games and tailgating parties there when I was a kid which is perhaps why I prefer the original Stadium Am I Wrong I'd love to hear your thoughts stories and memories in the comments section below also if there are any experts out there on the topic get in touch so that we can continue this conversation on our members only show the archive otherwise I thank you for watching and until next time this is Ryan soash signing off

Channel: IT'S HISTORY

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Id: dXWfbk-HWNA

Length: 25min 36sec (1536 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2024