 |  |
Schaumburg, IL
The famed Seattle Space Needle was built for the 1962
World's Fair, everyone knows. But what is lesser-known: a
similar building was planned for suburban Chicago a
decade later.
The Schaumburg Space Needle would have been three
times the height of the original. The 2,000 ft tower would
have been the world's tallest building, clocking in nearly
60 stories taller than the Sears Tower and 300 feet taller
than the current giant, Taiwan's Taipei 101 Tower.
A hotel, restaurant, residential units and observation
decks were planned for the Schaumburg Space Needle.
The tower would have been the anchor of a planned
mini-city of residential towers, office buildings, plazas and
that staple of all visionary urban plans: a monorail, which
can be seen streaking into the illustration from the left.
The Arlington Heights, IL developer who proposed this
mega-project in 1973 never got beyond the drawing
board. But give him credit for seeing American suburbia
as something more significant than office parks and culs
de sac. BTW: I uncovered this gem while doing research
for a book I'm working on. I'll feature a few of my more
interesting finds from time to time as work on the book
progresses.
.
