Providing panoramic views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline, this revolutionary skyscraper was carried out by George D. Schipporeit and John Heinrich, students and colleagues of Alfred Caldwell (and Mies van der Rohe) from the Illinois Institute of Technology. The 70-story residential tower was designed and constructed between 1965 and 1968; Lake Point Towers was the tallest residential building in the world until 1993.
Perhaps the first roof garden in a city that actively promotes them today, Caldwell’s Prairie style landscape for Skyline Park takes the form of a private, second story roof garden atop the tower’s parking garage. Its two and a half acres include many of the signature elements found in other Midwestern Caldwell commissions, such as the Lincoln Park Lily Pool, also in Chicago, and Eagle Point Park in Dubuque, Iowa. These include a kidney-shaped lagoon, cascades, a sun room, rock outcrops, a stepping stone path, and native plants appropriate to the Prairie style, in addition to functional residential amenities including a swimming pool, playground and barbecue area. Despite minor modifications - a small playground and perimeter fencing around the swimming pool - Caldwell’s design is largely intact today.
