Architect Stanley Tigerman: The Anti-Cruelty Society Building in Chicago

The Anti-Cruelty Society (Humane Society) building was designed by Stanley Tigerman in 1979 and construction was completed in 1981. The structure is located in Chicago on the southwest corner of N. LaSalle Drive and W. Grand Avenue. The building’s exterior surface was replaced in 2011, however, much of the integrity of Tigerman’s initial design has been maintained. Pictured above: east elevation showing “a friendly face” and the view looking southwest showing the block long series of structures that comprise the ACS. (click on the images for a larger view)

Tigerman (b.1930), who’s a brilliant architect, has practiced in Chicago for fifty years—he is primarily interested in the paradoxical aspects of the idea and the reality of architecture. In other words as he says, “I’m interested in the field of architecture as distinct from the profession of architecture.”[1] He has also said that, “architecture is making the useful artful”[2] which is a phrase that could describe most design areas. Currently Tigerman has a major traveling retrospective exhibition of his work that’s on display at the Graham Foundation in Chicago. The show was organized by the Yale School of Architecture Gallery and curated by Emmanuel Pedit. Over the years Tigerman has designed and implemented many highly thoughtful, socially responsible projects for an international clientele.

Yale architecture professor, Emmanuel Petit expresses this insight about Tigerman’s work:

Tigerman insists that architecture is fundamentally relational and allegorical.… In a project for the Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago (1979), Tigerman interpreted the urban animal shelter alternatively as a ‘killing machine’ and an Animal Cracker box.[3]

In addition, shown in this view along Grand Avenue are Anti-Cruelty Society 
buildings, from left to right: representing the Postmodern period, designed by Tigerman, the 1933 edifice representing Chicago World’s Fair Moderne and the International Style Modern of 1953. It’s fascinating to see this sequence of structures—each one signifies a specific style in architectural history during the last half of the twentieth century.

1. Tigerman, Stanley. “Displacement.” Graham Foundation. Chicago. 15 Feb. 2012. Address.
2. “Architect, Stanley Tigerman.” Chicago Tonight. PBS. WTTW, 13 Feb. 2010. Television.
3. Petit, Emmanuel. Ceci n’est pas une rêverie: The Architecture of Stanley Tigerman. New Haven: Yale School of Architecture, 2011. n. pg. Print.