The Illinois

Proposed skyscraper

The Mile High Illinois, Illinois Sky-City, or simply The Illinois was a proposed skyscraper that would have been 1 mile (1,600 m) high, said by Frank Lloyd Wright in his 1956 book, A Testament.[1]

Wright described the proposed structure with floor plans of the “base”, 320th, and 528th (highest) floors.[1]

The design, was to be built in Chicago, would have included 528 stories, with an area of 18,460,000 square feet (1,715,000 m2). Wright said that there would be parking for 15,000 cars and 150 helicopters.[1]

Chicago is known for good reason as the "Windy City", though it is not the windiest city in the U.S. Had it been built, the Illinois would have been the tallest building in the world by far: more than four times the height of the then tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building, and nearly twice as tall as the world's current tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

The building is one of the visionary buildings meant to be an alternative to the increasing urban sprawl occurring in most cities. None of these has ever been viewed as financially feasible.

The design of the Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, is said to have been inspired by that of The Illinois.[2][3]

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  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wright, Frank Lloyd (1957). A Testament. New York, New York: Horizon Press. pp. 239, 240, and unnumbered foldout following.
  2. "Burj Dubai & The Illinois Comparison". Archived from the original on 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
  3. Dubai Debt: What the Burj Kahlifa—the tallest building in the world—owes to Frank Lloyd Wright., By Witold Rybczynski, Slate.com, Jan 13, 2010

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