River City II

Dates: 1983 - 1986
Location: Chicago, IL
Type: Multi-family Residences

River City II was the part of the larger River City plan ultimately constructed. Goldberg had started planning River City in the early 1970’s as a radical proposal of a number of high-rise residential towers, grouped in “triads”, a larger planning endeavor located along the south branch of the Chicago River, from Harrison to Roosevelt Street. Over time it became apparent this would not be permitted, and so several alternate schemes were developed. One of the iterations included a single tower, a shopping center shaped like a cone, and a mid-rise housing group laid out in sequential coils. A portion of this housing arrangement was completed as River City II.

River City II contained 446 residences, including one and two bedroom apartments, two and three bedroom town homes, and three and four bedroom penthouses. Overall, the built portion was curvilinear structure, eight to fifteen stories in height, constructed over a four-story base that contained 250,000 square feet of offices, shopping, a conference center, restaurants, a health-club, educational centers, a private outdoor park, and a seventy boat marina. Originally designed as rental housing, the owners of the project later converted it to condominiums.

Unlike Marina City, the housing did not feature balconies, rather each unit had clerestories on the corridor side, gaining daylight from the interior atrium to which all the units were connected. This atrium, or private interior passageway was called “the River Road,” and was modeled after European streetscapes.

The project was cast in place concrete, unusual for the period. The very large and long skylight over River Road was of glass block held in thin concrete ribbing providing soft light throughout the day.

Atrium

River City was the last built iteration of Goldberg’s urban housing projects. From its origins in more complex and larger urban planning, as built it was a stand-alone complex ahead of its time on the south side of the loop. The marina along the river was more outgoing than that at Marina City; the River Road atrium is probably Goldberg’s most developed and mature interior spaces.

The original notion for extending the housing “snake” with more units were not realized, and thus the project stands alone, without clear reference to the larger ideas that spawned its design.

Plan