In September 1962, several office buildings were competing for National Design Center, but a ten-year lease was signed with Marina Management Corporation.

Based in New York, National Design Center was a showcase, open to the public, of home furnishings and appliances. They would lease 35,000 square feet on the first four floors of the Marina City office building, a deal worth about $3 million. An additional $1.5 million would be spent building the interior.

A slightly smaller showcase on East 53rd Street in New York had been open for four years and in the past year had attracted 750,000 visitors. It was estimated that 1.5 million people would visit the center at Marina City, scheduled to open in September 1963 with several hundred exhibitors.

(Left) Page one of National Design Center newsletter, December 1963. Article in lower right of page is sub-titled, “National Design Center Opening In Marina City, Chicago, Will House Architectural & Building Products Division.” (Click on image to view larger version.)

National Design Center officially opened on March 2, 1964. Hours were 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Three floors of exhibits appealed to everyone from professional decorators to the do-it-yourself crowd. Exhibits featured home furnishings, fabrics, appliances, decorative items, and building products. Details on each item, like where to buy it and how much it cost, were available at an information counter on the first floor that was staffed by 12 people. But you couldn’t actually buy anything at the design center.

(Above) Entrance to National Design Center near southwest corner of office building. (Below) Book shop at National Design Center,

There was an auditorium on the fourth floor for lectures, meetings, luncheons, concerts, and art exhibits. Later a book shop was added to the main floor.

The general coordinator was Helen Schubert. Her local center would keep track of questions from visitors and send those questions to the product manufacturers, to help them improve existing products and develop new products.

Schubert was a 1952 University of Wisconsin graduate who directed the National Design Center for many years. She then owned Helen Schubert Public Relations and in the early 1980s was honored for professional excellence by the Chicago chapter of Women in Communications.

Moving Day

The first tenants were expected to move in Sunday morning, October 14, 1962. The building was still under construction. There was a large construction crane on top of the east tower. But the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd floors were finished.

Daniel Aguilar, age 28, and his wife, Jo Ann, age 26, had rented apartment 2135 in the east tower. Daniel was a credit manager and also managed a Flamenco dance team. He thought they would be the first tenants to move in, arriving before noon.

Unfortunately for the Aguilar’s place in Marina City history, their next door neighbor got there first. Louise Hance, a secretary for the partnership bank Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. was given the first key by Charles Swibel.

When the Aguilars got there, Louise was watching the east tower construction crane lift furniture to her balcony, from which it was then moved inside the apartment. They greeted each other over their balcony railings, then had coffee later.

Over on the west tower, tenants started moving in on January 12, 1963. At that time, 729 apartments were rented although only 100 in the east tower were actually occupied. Charles Swibel expected all 896 apartments to be rented by April. He said on January 11 that there were more applications and $50 deposits than available apartments.

Morris H. Swibel (left) in early 1964 with the Danish Minister of Transport, His Excellency Kai Lendberg (far right) and Ragnihild Bolstad, a model from Norway.

Driving in circles

On February 11, 1963, the first passenger car made it to the 19th floor of the spiral parking ramp “without incident,” mused Chicago Daily Tribune reporter James M. Gavin.

“The ramp grade is a bit steeper through the first four floor levels,” Gavin noted. “From the fifth floor level the grade is five percent and a driver feels a little safer accelerating in low gear at 10 to 15 miles an hour. However, as the higher floors are reached and the city’s skyline begins to flash into view, the driver has a tendency to hug the core of the building.”

The monthly rate to park there would be $30 when the garage officially opened a month later.

Views of the parking ramps today. (Above left) Looking west from south edge of Marina City property toward west residential tower. Chicago River and Dearborn Street bridge at left. Smith & Wollensky restaurant at right. (Above right) Close outer view of steel cables and barrier to keep cars from falling off ramp at Marina City. (Bottom left) First three levels of east tower parking ramp. (Bottom right) Marina City complex at noon from fifth floor terrace of office block. House of Blues at lower right, parking ramp of east residential tower at left, and west residential tower in background.