Mock-ups and models

(Above) Marina City model apartment from a 28-page paperback book for prospective residential tenants. “The living room of a Marina City one-bedroom apartment,” reads the caption, “showing the 10-foot by 20-foot balcony with the city view from the 40th floor.”

“These buildings have been described as cylindrical. This is not true. The organization of the building is rather the organization of a tremendous sunflower, where the core is the center of the flower and each of the bays emanating from the core are very much – both in shape and in organization – like the petals of a flower.”
– Bertrand Goldberg, 1962

In 1961, at a cost of at least $50,000 (equal to $529,000 in 2024), full-size mock-ups of a one-bedroom and efficiency apartment at the unfinished Marina City were constructed to show to investors and prospective tenants.

The two model apartments were open to the public – seven days a week – starting on January 9, 1962. They were located at 316 West Randolph Street, south of the Chicago River in the northwest corner of the Loop, where 155 North Wacker, a 48-story skyscraper, is located today. This was the office of the rental agent, Marina Management Corporation.

Complete with balcony railings, the model apartments were furnished by Marshall Field’s department store. Murals were displayed behind the mock-ups, assembled from photographs taken from a helicopter at about where the 40th floor would be later.

(Left) A large photograph simulates the view from the balcony of a Marina City apartment.

Think of it as a sunflower

Marina City’s architect was far removed from downtown Chicago that day, speaking at a luncheon of the Fashion Group of Chicago (now Fashion Group International Chicago) at Lake Shore Country Club in Glencoe, Illinois.

Bertrand Goldberg said each tower was organized like “a tremendous sunflower,” comparing the core to the center of a flower and the apartments to the petals.

“The efficiency apartment develops from the core, placing the dressing room and bathroom closest to the core where the restricted space makes this more feasible. The kitchen comes next, and finally, at the outside of the building, where the function requires the greatest amount of view and light and sensation of openness, we have our living quarters. When we step out on the surrounding balcony, we are at the extreme outside of the petal of the flower.”

Goldberg emphasized the conveniences that Marina City would offer its residents. Anything they needed could be ordered for delivery by calling the building’s switchboard. Appliances, from hairdryers to dishwashers, would be available for rent.

(Right) Unidentified men tidy a full-size mock-up of a fifth-floor office at Marina City, circa 1963. The “tower” in the background at right is a drawing. The “buildings” are large photographs.

Chicago suburbs like Glencoe were where 18 percent of Marina City rental applicants were currently living. Around this time, more than 3,500 applications had been received, and 764 prospective renters had been interviewed.

Most of those interviewed said they would use the theater, swimming pool, bowling alley, skating rink, and would consider joining the health club.

May 1, 1962, was still the target date for the first tenants to move in.

By September 1963, there were furnished model apartments at Marina City. Members of the Illinois chapter of the American Institute of Interior Designers created three model apartments on the 48th floor of the west tower. The cost to furnish each unit ranged from $2,500 to $15,000.

Written by Steven Dahlman
Presented for nonprofit educational purposes

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