June 1922 was an exciting month in the period known as Modernism. News about daring adventures and innovations fueled the imagination and aspirations of people, regardless of their class, religion, or country. The Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen set out on an expedition to the North Pole, the aviation pioneer Henry Berliner demonstrated a helicopter prototype, and the American President Harding became the first president to use radio broadcasts.
During that time, in Chicago, a competition was announced by the Chicago Tribune corporation, a newspaper publisher, for architects to submit proposals for "The world's most beautiful office building."
To this day, the Tribune's bold call for proposals is striking in its daring attempt to qualify a winning submission using a subjective measure. "Beauty" is after all, in the eye of the beholder. The image above includes some of the submissions to the competition. The wide range of approaches reflects all the major design philosophies...