The Tribune Tower: Spolia as Despoliation1
Spolia is now an art historical term for the recycling of architectural fragments. It has lost its classical reference to the predatory confiscation and display of plunder necessary to the public spectacle of power. The Tribune Tower, a charming high-rise that contributes to the filigree of the Chicago skyline, appears utterly innocent. Only a careful observer recognizes the sacrifice made by other buildings for its construction of a corporate image. In 1922, the Chicago Tribune Corporation held an international competition to secure the design ‘for a structure distinctive and imposing, the most beautiful office building in the world’. The Chicago Tribune Tower Competition has canonical status. It is consistently included in the syllabi of college courses on American architectural history. Eclectic architects or their patrons characteristically selected a particular historical style because of its symbolic connotations. The fragments of the Tribune Tower suggest how spolia might be put to use as conspicuous signs of coercive authority.
