Perlstein Hall

Built 1946

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Mies van der Rohe designed Perlstein Hall as the Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering Building. Like a number of Mies buildings on Illinois Institute of Technology’s campus, it follows the precedent of Alumni Memorial Hall. The distinction between primary and secondary structures, one and two way span structures, the expression of steel within the limitations of fireproofing, and the treatment of multiple elevations within a single building, were confronted.

Perlstein Hall is on the corner of State Street and 33rd Street, a gateway to campus. The lawn directly in front of it accommodates a single jet fountain, designed by esteemed Illinois Tech Professor Myron Goldsmith (B.ARCH ’39, M.S. ’53), and is notable for its radial reductivism symmetry. Notable features of Perlstein include a bilateral symmetry in plan, a wedge shaped auditorium, and white oak doors that are commonly found in Mies buildings. Floating stairs lead to the basement and upper floor and which leed to a courtyard. At the north end of the building is a two story laboratory.