The Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse is probably one of the most notorious architectural failures in US history, to the point where aspiring architects will study it so they know what not to do.

When this happened at the Hyatt Regency Kansas City Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri in

1981, it was the deadliest structural collapse up until the tragic events of the World Trade

Center 20 years later. So what went so wrong? Well, it was one

simple overlooked design flaw that cost so many people their lives.

So hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of PRISM of the past and

today we're obviously going to be discussing the Hyatt Regency walkway collapse.

As an aside there will be a content warning because later on as during the collapse

sequence and we discuss what happened, things will get a bit gruesome, so just a heads

up.

But before we do get into the collapse itself, let's briefly discuss Hyatt's history to provide a bit of context as to who they are. Their history as a corporation begins in the late 19th century really when

Pritzker family immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine. Patriarch Nicholas Pritzker led the family to Chicago and founded Pritzker P&P, the law firm that

later evolved into a management company.

By the late 20s, P&P's best clients were the Gold Blatt brothers, a low-priced Chicago department

store chain.

Through the Gold Blatt's, the Pritzker's connected with Walter M. Hayman, a leading Chicago

commercial banker, and the two became business associates.

The story of Hyatt Corporation begins with the succeeding generation of Pritzker's.

By the early 1950s, Pritzker's oldest son, Jay, had become active in the family business.

Something of a prodigy, Jay Pritzker had graduated high school at 14.

He finished college thereafter and then took a law degree from Northwestern University.

During World War II, he worked first as a flight instructor and later for the US

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