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The Monroe Building |
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Constructed in 1912 as part of the “Gateway to the City”, The Monroe Building
was  one of Chicago’s early distinguished office buildings located on the street wall of Michigan
Avenue. Designed by one of the city’s most prominent architectural firms of its time, Holabird & Roche, The Monroe
Building became such a distinguished office location that the firm moved their design offices to the penthouse floor after construction was completed.
After many years of use and changes in ownership, the building aged and began to succumb to modern, larger office buildings nearby, losing its prominence, and was recently slated for conversion into condominiums and parking facilities. The fate of this unique piece of Chicago’s architectural history was not promising until the building’s current owner purchased the building, and decided to completely renovate and restore the building, keeping its original function intact. In 2007 preliminary surveys of the building were performed which determined that much of its infrastructure was not compliant with the city’s code requirements, and that many of the buildings electrical systems were antiquated and outdated. It became readily apparent that the building’s entire electrical distribution system, emergency power system, telecommunication system and fire alarm systems would need to be completely replaced and upgraded. Upgrading the building’s electrical systems proved to be challenging as it was determined that the owner needed to maintain operation of the building during the renovation, causing the project to be constructed in multiple phases as tenant spaces were to be moved about the building as construction occurred. Much of the system design would therefore require careful analysis of where systems could be installed, and defining the process of how the existing infrastructure systems could be removed and replaced while maintaining electrical power to the building’s operating systems. |
Based upon estimates of the proposed loads, it became apparent that the existing electrical service was inadequate, and that an additional electrical service would be required. A new 480-volt electrical service was proposed, and the electrical utility company was able to determine that a nearby vault located down the street had adequate capacity for the anticipated loads. The 480-volt service would serve the building’s “house” loads, elevators and HVAC system equipment. A new 208-volt tenant metering switchboard was specified to replace the existing antiquated switchboard, and provided with bus duct risers that serve metering closets on each tenant floor, and a modular meter center to serve the first floor retail tenant spaces. The locations of the tenant metering closets were chosen to be vertically aligned risers
fo While facing many challenges involved with the design of the electrical distribution systems, many similar challenges were faced with regard to the installation of a new fire alarm system for the building, and the replacement of the building’s telecommunication infrastructure. New fire alarm riser locations had to be assessed, devices installed and made operational as areas of new construction were completed. In addition, new telephone closets had to be located on each floor and a new telecommunication service room located. The design of the Fire Alarm systems for the main lobby space also needed to be closely coordinated with the architect and Chicago Fire Prevention Bureau to reduce any impact of the installation of new devices with the existing Rookwood tile work within the historic lobby space. Work on this $5,000,000 electrical project is currently being completed and is slated for final occupancy in early 2012, 100 years after the building’s initial construction.
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r the required emergency distribution systems, and to minimize the extent of penetrations thru the clay tile arch floor. The location of the electrical closets on each floor presented another challenge since the entire closet could not be constructed. Only the portion of the closet that housed the bus duct risers and meter centers could be initially constructed. The portion of the closet that would house the tenant panels and “house” panels would not be installed until the adjacent stairwells were in-filled and the closet enclosures completed.
Project Team: