In 1922, the Chicago Tribune sponsored an international competition to design its new corporate headquarters. Both a serious design contest and a brilliant publicity stunt, the competition received worldwide attention for the hundreds of submissions — from the sublime to the ridiculous — it garnered.

In the lavishly illustrated book The Chicago Tribune Tower Competition: Skyscraper Design and the Cultural Change in the 1920s, author Katherine Solomonson tells the fascinating story of the competition, the diverse architectural designs it attracted, and its lasting impact. Katherine is also Associate Professor of Architecture and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

For WBEZ’s Eight Forty Eight, Contributor Robert Price, Associate and Technical Director for Asia with Gensler took a walk through the Tribune Tower’s executive plaza with Katherine…