Triglyphs

A version of this article appreared on the webpage of the docents of the Chicago Architecture Center.

I think I had learned about the classical orders by the 8th grade, although I think I then only learned that the columns of the various orders had different capitals. Much later I learned there is much more to the classical orders than capitals. A key element of the Doric Order is the triglyph. The triglyph is a set of three vertical marks that appears on the frieze equally spaced between columns. If you look up triglyph in Wikipedia, you'll see this image:

The ancient Roman architect Vitruvius speculates that triglyphs reflect the ends of wooden beams. No one knows if Vitruvius is right, but everyone (e.g., the French architectural historian and theoretician Viollet-le-Duc) repeats what he said, because it's the best we've got. I don't know much about the religious beliefs of the Dorians (no one does), but they seem to attach high importance to small decorative details.

Here are some examples of triglyphs I've found on my wanderings around Chicago.

The pedway bridge over Clark Street connecting to the Leo Burnett Building just North of Lake Street is a wonderful example of a Warren Truss. Where the diagonal truss members meet the lower (and upper) chords, there are three vertical markings. Are those triglyphs? Or are they there because of bending stress? Even so, they look like triglyphs.

Even if it's bemding stress, Vitruvius' idea was that triglyphs in Greek temples reflect the ends of beams: originally, triglyphs were structural.

Of course triglyphs are on a temple in Greektown (at Halsted and Van Buren):

What a great chance to display an almost painfully rigorous (and Palladian) interpretation of the design! (Of course, this example may raise discussions from purists: maybe too Roman. But what Chicago structure is without controversy?)

When Chicago architects adapted the Doric Order through the Beaux-Arts, they often brought the Triglyph along.  Here it is a detail on the currently disused 1923 Live Stock National Bank building, designed by the firm of A. Epstein, at the corner of Exchange and Halsted.

(Epstein's website has a interesting blog post about this structure: https://www.epsteinglobal.com/whats-new/2015/throwback-thursday-live-stock-national-bank. I also like the use of the Flemish bond in the bricks: another almost painfully rigorous detail.)

On some townhouses on Racine, just south of Taylor Street, which date from around 1870, a small detail is carved into the dolomite in front:

The architect is unknown, but the detail sure looks like a triglyph. If it is a triglyph, it's placement is not quite spot-on: properly, it would be above the column.

In developing the symbols and images on buildings, designers can work in mysterious ways. When Chicago Public Schools Architect Roger C. Christensen designed Sullivan High School at 6631 N. Bosworth in 1923 in a Jacobean Revival style, he put many items into the terra-cotta, including some Triglyphs. Here's a sample:

Unlike the Stockyard Bank instance, this is more an interpretation of the triglyph.

When I was looking at the construction surrounding the Jane Byrne intersection, a detail in the concrete attracted my attention. (Indeed, noticing this detail was the genesis of this article.) It certainly looks like a triglyph. While this design is used widely, here is an example from the Halsted Street overpass of the Eisenhower Expressway:

I like how the figure in the concrete is echoed in the metal stanchion above it. (Triglyphs had a relation to the columns below, and these -- if they are triglyphs -- continue that association.)

The NBC Tower was built in 1989 and designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and is located in Cityfront Center, just north of the Chicago River from the Chicago Architecture Center. Design credit goes to Adrian Smith. It was inspired by the "Art Deco" monument 30 Rockefeller Center in New York Center. The Triglyph is incorporated into the capital of the pilaster, but is also repeated between the columns.

Post-modern styles seem to take design elements from many sources, so I shouldn't be surprised to see interesting interpretations in its lobby. I'm pretty sure that these are some mixture of triglyph and Greek key. I like them.

I enjoy looking for triglyphs, and I've found a few in my wanderings. Looking for and recognizing details of designs make the world a richer and more interesting place.

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The first illustration is from Wikipedia, CC-BY-SA-3.0.

All the other photos are by the author.