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Article: Chicago landmark's design offers light, may have saved lives.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
- Article date:
- December 8, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Chicago Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Dec. 8--The same wedding cake, tier-upon-tier setbacks that made the office building at 135 S. LaSalle St. an Art Deco gem played another, unanticipated role Monday night: They gave firefighters a perch in the sky to contain the inferno at the skyscraper and prevent the loss of lives.
The original purpose of those tiers, or setbacks, was to bring light and air into the Loop's thicket of office buildings, a goal of city planners when the Field Building, as 135 S. LaSalle was originally called, rose amid the gloom of the Depression.
Yet on Monday night, the setbacks--a classic feature of ...