The Historic Landmark Data Center

Have you ever been in Chicago? If not, you should plan to discover this beautiful, dynamic, eclectic city! Not in the winter though… Chicago is not called the windy city in vain! I actually live in Chicago and I can assure you the Bean which is by the way the best sculpture I have seen in my life so far, is truly more impressive seen close. Since we are all Data Center geeks here, let’s give you another valuable reason to buy immediately your flights tickets to Chicago: The Chicago Historic Landmark Data Center!

The R.R Donnelley Printing Plant, sometimes known as the The Calumet Plant or the Lakeside Plant and now known as the Lakeside Technology Center, was built between 1912 and 1929 to house the operations of the RR Donnelley printing company. The building supported printing operations for the company and was the Donnelley headquarters until 1991 when they moved the headquarters to 77 West Wacker. In 1993, the plant was closed after the discontinuation by Sears, Roebuck and Co. of its mail-order catalog, which had been the last major account printed there. In 1999 the building was retrofitted and is currently owned by Digital Realty Trust operating as a carrier hotel or data center. The newly outfitted building was the first and largest planned carrier hotel in the United States and has more power capacity that the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. The building was designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw to be a fireproof design of poured reinforced concrete columns and an open-shell concrete floor. Supported by 4,675 steel-reinforced concrete columns, this type of construction not only served the Donnelly well, but also provided the perfect infrastructure for future tenants. To further the building’s support structure, reinforcing bars, normally laid perpendicular, were laid at various angles enabling the floors to bear loads of at least 250 pounds per square foot. Those floors that once held up printing presses, now support rows of switches, routers, storage systems, and standby power generators. Moreover, this data center uses an 8.5-million-gallon tank for thermal storage.

Current major tenants of the building include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Telx, Equinix, Steadfast Networks and Qwest. Exterior ornaments depict symbols of printing history. Portions of the building, including the interior Memorial Library, were designed by architect Charles Klauder. So are you coming soon?