![]() "He didn't have a fear of heights, and when John got an idea to do something, it was done. "The higher, the better," Rosenbach said. Philip Rosenbach, Rukavina's friend since age 12 and a retired ironworker, said his friend is an opinionated, dedicated leader who loves jobs on the city's tallest buildings. "I enjoy it," he said, "but I don't need it." He says he feeds off the adrenaline of working high in the sky. ![]() Rukavina said he never felt comfortable in an office and came to enjoy the physical, often dangerous nature of iron work. Perching on a slender steel beam with nothing but the city streets far below him simply became a reality of the job. But to Rukavina, it's like eating a bowl of oatmeal. To someone who doesn't hang off tall buildings for a living, Rukavina's feats seem almost unreal. "It's not for everyone." Working on the edge People who are agile, in good condition, that's what it's all about," Rukavina said. "You need to be someone who can get up there and get the job done. More recently, in 2009, he capped the spire on Chicago's Trump International Hotel & Tower. There he is again in a 1978 picture, swinging a hammer as he balances from an antenna on Marina City. There's Rukavina, in a photo on the front page of the Tribune on Dec. He worked on the construction of the Marina City towers in the 1960s and hung the flag on a John Hancock Center antenna in conjunction with a Michigan Avenue parade celebrating the moon landing in 1969. ![]() Rukavina was there for the city's last such rush to the sky. Wacker Drive, about 20 each at a pair of 50-story projects on Michigan Avenue in the South Loop, more at a project in River North and another 20 on the rehab at Willis Tower, according to Matt Austin, the Iron Workers Local 1 business agent in charge of the Loop.Ĭommercial and multifamily construction starts in Chicago were valued at $8.6 billion in 2016, the most since at least 2000, although they slowed in the first half of last year, according to Dodge Data & Analytics. There are 45 ironworkers at the 98-story Vista Tower at 401 E. Ironworkers, who install the steel columns and beams, rebar and cable systems of apartment, condo and office towers, are an essential part of the projects. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |