Jump to information on a specific building:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Jump to information on a specific building:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
The tract of valuable and populous territory that falls under the eye on the opposite page contains some of the finest business buildings in the world. Conspicuous among these is the Woman's Temple. Some features of the Home Insurance--the Cyclopean granite walls of its lower stories--must be closely studied to be appreciated. At the northeast corner of Monroe and La Salle streets is the Nixon Building, which stood unscathed through the Great Fire. Beyond is the Young Men's Christian Association Building, and, dimly beyond, the Tacoma is seen. At the left, on Fifth Avenue, rises the Lees, and still higher beyond it, the Security Deposit. All these are solid steel edifices; and another, the Calumet, is thrown out of view by the presence of the Home Insurance. For twenty years this part of La Salle Street has been given over largely to insurance and real estate.
At the northwest corner of Adams and La Salle streets, is a handsome stone-front of the pattern once deemed desirable on La Salle Street. The basement is very high, and there are 4 upper stories. Here the Current was born--the most ambitious literary venture of early Chicago--and the Single Tax Club has entertained many accomplished thinkers and writers of differet principles. The building, which was erected in 1872, fronts 120 feet on La Salle, 60 feet on Adams, and is 65 feet high. It has 8 stores, 29 offices, and over 160 occupants, who are agents, brokers, and publishers.
At the northeast corner of Adams and La Salle streets, has been described generally in another place. It is a high steel building of the first class, and has been increased from 10 to 12 stories in recent years. It fronts 140 feet on La Salle and 97 on Adams, with a height of 180 feet. The walls of the lower two stories are made of one course of granite blocks. The foundations are heavy, and the brick walls of the super- structure are very thick. There are 235 offices, 1,250 occupants, and 4 passenger elevators. The principal tenants are Armour & Co., who have general offices here, and the Union National Bank, of which J. J. P. Odell is president. Insurance agents, manufacturers' agents, publishers, and professional men fill the building. Erected in 1884, at a cost of $800,000, and enlarged in 1891.
At 139-141 Adams Street, although a small building, contains 16 engines, 32 dynamos, and furnishes power for 100,000 electric lights. Its chimneys have added a chief difficulty to the Chicago smoke problem. Dimensions: Width on Adams, 50 feet; depth, 200 feet; height, 40 feet. The general offices of the Chicago Edison Company are here. Erected in 1887.
Has 100 feet front on Clark Strret and 80 feet on Adams, at the northwest corner. It is 75 feet high, with 4 stories and basement, containing 6 stores, and 40 offices. It is occupied by railway ticket offices, agents, and physicians; was erected in 1873.
At 151-153 Monroe Street, is a fine brick front of the old style, 40 feet wide, 60 feet deep, 85 feet high, with 6 stories and basement. There are 2 stores, 44 offices, and 1 elevator in the building, which is occupied by professional men. Erected in 1871.
At the northeast corner of Monroe and La Salle streets, was in the finishing stages and wet with new plaster on the night of the burning of Chicago. Little or no damage was done to it, and it served as a nucleus around which to gather new business and begin rebuilding. It fronts 46 feet on Monroe and 80 feet on La Salle, with 65 feet of height in 6 stories and basement. There are 48 offices and 1 elevator. The tenants are real estate, insurance, financial, legal, and other professional men. There are about 150 occupants.
Fronts 190 feet on La Salle and 50 feet on Monroe, at the norhtwest corner. It is 55 feet high, with 4 stories and basement. It is a stone-front of 1872, containing 6 stores, 95 offices, and 1 elevator, and is devoted principally to real estate and insurance.
At the southwest corner of Monroe and La Salle streets, is the most conspicuous office building in this part of town. It is described in another chapter. It was erected in 1892, at a cost of nearly $1,500,000. The lot is 96 feet wide on Monroe and 190 feet deep on La Salle. The Temple is 185 feet high, in 12 stories and basement, with 300 offices. Seven passenger elevators carry 15,000 persons daily. The construction is fire-proof, of steel, granite, brick, and terra cotta, with white marble rotunda, staircases, and wainscoatings. Four banks--the National Bank of America, the Bank of Commerce, the Metropolitan National Bank, and the Bank of Montreal--are to be found here, and Willard Hall may be entered on the ground floor, from Monroe Street. Main entrance on La Salle Street, where the semicircle of elevators should be seen.
At the northwest corner of Monroe Street and Fifth Avenue, has a frontage of 80 feet on both thoroughfares, and is a 7-story structure 110 feet high, with 1 freight elevator. Its walls are of brick and iron, and built with great attention to light and air. It was erected in 1884, just after a destructive conflagration at this corner, and foreshadowed, in the lightness of its walls, the discovery that a building could be made independent of its exterior in the matter of security. M. D. Wells & Co., a great wholesale boot and shoe house, occupy the premises.
Fronts 100 feet on Madison and 200 feet on Franklin Street, at the northeast corner. It is 80 feet high, with 6 stories and basement. It was remodeled in 1892, and is a stone-front of 1873. It has 6 stores and 2 elevators. The tenants are wholesale jobbers and manufacturers' agents.
147 to 153 Fifth Avenue, is a modern 12-story and basement steel building. The materials used in its construction are pressed brick and terra cotta, plate-glass being generally used. With a frontage of 80 feet, a depth of 115 feet, and height of 165 feet, the structure presents a substantial apperance, being, it is claimed, absolutely fire-proof and strong enough to resist the heaviest strain. It is the best naturally lighted office building in the city, having a wide alley on three sides. Two hydraulic passenger elevators afford ample accommodation to the occupants, who are mainly manufacturers' and importers' agents and jobbers. The building was erected in 1892, at a cost of $325,000.
Fronting 80 feet on Madison and 40 feet on La Salle Street, at the northwest corner, was one of the most sumptuous edifices of the rebuilding era. It is an ornate stone-front of 5 stories and high basement in the La Salle-Street style, and runs 2 passenger elevators. There are 5 stores and 30 suites of offics. The height of the stone-front walls is 85 feet. The occupants are financial, insurance, real estate, and professional corporations and persons. Built in 1874.
Covers the site of Farwell Hall, in the rear of 150 Madison Street, fronting La Salle Street on the east side at Arcade Court (an alley). This splendid building is like the Athletic Club's steel building on Michigan Boulevard. The lot is irregular, but has 54 feet front on La Salle, and is 187 feet deep on Arcade Court, with greater width in the rear. The structure is 190 feet high, with 12 stories and basement. Its interior is described in our chapter on "Notable High Buildings." It was erected in 1893, at a cost of $850,000. The skeleton steel method of architecture is here followed, nothing depending on outer walls. Farwell Hall had a notable history. It burned before the Great Fire; it burned in the Great Fire; it was demolished to make way for this steel sky-scraper.
As well as the Lees, which stands south of it, has been described in our chapter on "Notable High Buildings." The former fronts 47 feet on Madison and 100 feet on Fifth Avenue, at the southeast corner. It is a sky-scraper of 14 stories and basement, 147 feet high, with 4 passenger elevators. There are 5 stores and 150 offices. It was erected in 1892, at a cost of $500,000, and is occupied by wholesale agents and professional men.