Planning begins

“There is no commuting problem, except to get downstairs to work. There is no service problem. The high population density makes all services available, cheaply and quickly. There is no ‘cultural’ problem. The community is its own culture. There is more leisure and more ways to use it for the man who ‘lives above the store.’”
– Bertrand Goldberg, 1959

September 14, 1959. An unmanned Russian spacecraft, Luna 2, has become the first man-made object to make contact with the moon. In three days, the United States will attempt to launch a navigation satellite, but it will fail to reach orbit. In Chicago, Executive House, the first hotel built in the Loop in 40 years, has been open for eight months.

In Mayor Daley’s office at City Hall, Building Service Employees International Union president William L. McFetridge announced to local news media plans for a $25 million skyscraper apartment and commercial project. It will be part of a $1.5 billion plan to redevelop downtown Chicago.

Marina City will be a four-building complex on the Chicago River, comprised of two 40-story towers, each containing 560 apartments, a ten-story office tower, and a four-story building with parking for 400 cars and 1,000 boats. Offices, restaurants, a theater and assembly hall, shops, swimming pool, and three-acre park will be accessed from State Street to the east and Dearborn Street to the west.

Monthly rents for the “air-conditioned apartments” will be $125 for an efficiency, $165 for a one-bedroom, and $210 for a two-bedroom.

(Left) William L. McFetridge. Photo by Alexander Archer.

Civic leaders praised the project. John W. Baird, president of the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council, was “glad to see the trade unions investing their funds in urban renewal housing.”

Marina City, said McFetridge, will be “a pilot project in a national program of using union reserve funds to help insure the future of the downtown areas of major cities.”

(Right) John W. Baird, former president of Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council.

If it goes well, McFetridge said his union is interested in similar projects in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Within 48 hours of the announcement, 200 apartments are spoken for. One applicant sends a check for what today would be more than $1,700 to hold an apartment.

The name “Marina City” was the idea of Seena Swibel, the wife of Charles Swibel and the mother of Howard and Larry. If Bertrand Goldberg, whose nickname was “Bud,” had had his way, it would have been called River City.

(Left) Other names that were considered for what would eventually be known as Marina City.

“Bud came up with a bunch of different names and his preference was River City,” recalled Howard Swibel in 2008. “But my mother loved the name Marina City. And she told me she remembers discussing with Bud and insisting that it be Marina City. She liked the idea because the marina was there.”

Goldberg would later design a complex and get to name it River City. But Marina City was going to be built this time – and on one of Chicago’s most historic sites.

Written by Steven Dahlman
Presented for nonprofit educational purposes

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