Fronts 170 feet on State and 114 feet on Randolph Street, at the norteast corner. This building occupies the place of honor in our chapter on "Notable High Building," and is there fully described. Its 21 stories carry it to a height of 302 feet. There are 10 stores, 543 offices, many lodge-rooms, and a public observatory. The exterior walls are heavy, of granite and yellow pressed brick. The rotunda on the main floor is open to the skylight at the top, and is nearly surrounded by 14 passenger and 2 freight elevators. In the basement and under the street are 2 Corliss engines, each of 500 horse-power; 8 steel boilers, 6 dynamos, and 8 large pumps. The electric apparatus weighs 60 tons, and includes 53 miles of wire. It is not possible to classify the tenants of a building which is a city in itself; and again, the edifice has not yet developed it characteristics. The upper floors are fitted for Masonic lodges, chapters, asylums, and councils. The first ten floors are expected to accommodate merchants. Professional men already favor the office floors. The observatory offers a very high point of view, to be obtained for a small fee and without climbing. This wonderful edifice was erected in 1890-92, at a cost of $3,500,000.

Fronts 125 feet on State and 150 feet on Randolph Street, at the southeast corner, and is 90 feet high, with 6 stories and basement, and 2 elevators. When this building was promoted by the late George B. Carpenter, it was regarded as an outright speculation, and a stock company was necessary--the forerunner of many hundred similar architectural undertakings. The building is a fire-proof structure, with 12 stores, 75 offices, and an auditorium with 2 balconies capable of seating 1,800 persons. There is a good organ, but no scenery, although spacious dressing-rooms are to be found under the stage. In this hall many of the most-distinguished people of the world have appeared publicly. Here Beecher fell unconscious on the stage, Tilton lectured, Patti sang, Lowell spike, Edwin Arnold read, and many other celebrities have greeted great audiences. Among the most notable successes were the Stoddard lectures, which for many years crowded the hall for a month at a time, and kept ticket-buyers standing all night at the box-office. Nor has the business part of the building been less successful. Here the Chicago Musical College, under Dr. Florence Ziegfeld, has for 14 years increased, throwing off branches and rival "conservatories," and music-teachers have daily made an unceasing din. Erected in 1879.

Occupy the whole north side of Washington Street, between State Street and Wabash Avenue, fronting 260 feet on State Street, 340 feet on Washington Street, 108 feet on Wabash Avenue. The old building is a remarkably handsome structure of the Parisian style, which is the third of a like appearance that has risen on this site since 1868, when it was first opened by this firm. It is 125 feet high, with 6 stories and basement, ornate stone front, and many pavilions. There are 6 elevators. The windows are dressed with the latest, richest, and most beautiful goods, and the interior presents an animated and entertaining spectacle. The new building was erected in 1892, at the northwest corner of Washington Street and Wabash Avenue, of steel, granite, terra cotta, tile, and marble, in the latest style of fire-proof construction. It has 9 stories, 90 suites of offices, and no less than 13 elevators. The four lower floors have been added to the retail quarters, and the whole gives to Field & Co. a vast accommodation for their retail dry-goods business.

Fronts 100 feet on State and 90 feet Washington Street, at the southeast corner. The example of this building, it is expected, will introduce a still larger use of the metals and artistic ornament into Chicago's principal architectures. The edifice has 14 stories, and rises to a height of 251 feet. Its two fronts are elaborately treated both at base and summit, and it is the richest-looking of the high steel structures of the city. Sculpture, paintings, cupolas, and bronze enter into its interior and exterior furnishings, and these are more fully described in that part of this guide which is devoted especially to buildings of the new style. The Columbus Memorial takes the place of a handsome old-style stone front, which was filled with physicians and dentists, and it is expected that they will return to this corner, where a free library and reading-room has been prepared for their use. Erected in 1892, at a cost of $1,000,000.

Fronts 120 feet on Wabash Avenue and 160 feet on Washington Street, at the southeast corner; is a 6-story stone front, of the style of 1872, 75 feet high, with 4 elevators. It is occcupied with a retail furniture exhibit that has few equals in the world, 180,000 square feet of floor space being covered with fine and beautiful products of the cabinet-makers' and house-furnishers' arts. This square was the scene of the costly Farwell and Field fire of September 12, 1970, when several millions of property were burned.

Fronts 200 feet on Randolph Street and 40 feet on Wabash Avenue, at the southeast corner. It is 85 feet high, with 5 stories, and 2 freight elevators. Its walls are built of brick and steel. The occupants are wholesale chemists, tobacconists, the American Whip Company, and manufacturers' agents. Erected in 1879.

Fronts 80 feet on Randolph Street and 80 feet on Wabash Avenue, at the northeast corner. It is a 6-story brick building, 70 feet high, with stone trimmings, 3 stores, 20 offices, and 1 elevator; occupied by stove manufacturers and others. Erected in 1872, and remodeled on new interior lines in 1890.

Fronts 169 feet on Randolph Street and 228 feet on Wabash Avenue, at the northwest corner. It is 75 feet high, and is a 5-story brick building. There are ususally about 375 occupants, who are wholesale jobbers and agents. Erected in 1879.

Fronts 120 feet on Wabash Avenue and 160 feet on Lake Street, at the northeast corner. It is a 5-story brick building, 85 feet high, with 4 freight elevators. It is occupied by the above firm with the largest general hardware business so far developed in Chicago. There are 325 employes. Erected in 1877.

Fronts 60 feet on Lake Street and 100 feet on Michigan Avenue, at the northwest corner. It is a 5-story brick structure, 75 feet high, with 1 freight elevator; occupied by John A. Tolman & Co., importers and wholesale grocers. Erected in 1876.

Fronts 160 feet on Michigan Avenue and 150 feet on Randolph Street, at the northwest corner. It is a 5-story building, 75 feet high, with 2 freight elevators, and fronts the north end of the Public Library. It is occupied by the great grocery house of Spragues, Warner & Co., one of the heaviest firms of the kind in the world. Erected in 1872.

Occupies Dearborn Park, and is on ground that has never before been permanently covered. (See "Notable High Buildings.") A brief history of the Public Library is as follows: Begun in 1872 from the gifts of the world; occupied a water-tank in the Rookery; at the southeast corner of Madison Street and Wabash Avenue; at the southwest corner of Lake and Dearborn streets; in the City Hall. The first librarian was William F. Poole; the second, Frederick H. Hild, who is now in charge, under an appointive board of trustees. The new building fronts on Michigan Avenue, Washington and Randolph streets; frontages, 354 feet on Michigan Avenue, 147 feet on Washington and Randolph streets, 95 feet high, in 3 principal stories, 2 intermediate floors, and a basement; 8 passenger elevators; total area 50,367 square feet; weight, 72,000 tons; 146,000 cubic feet of stone and 1,955 tons of iron were used in construction. There is to be room for 900,000 volumes. Blue Bedford stone, granite, and limestone exterior, with large arches and columns after designs suggested by the ancient gateway at Athens which divided the Roman from the Grecian section of the city. The colonnade is Ionic, with solid piers interspersed, the frieze bearing the names of historic writers. The Washington Street entrance is treated in the Roman method, with coffers and appropriate ornamentation, while the Randolph Street entrance is in classic style, massive columns and entablature being employed. The roof is of copper. A stone balustrade surmounts the walls. The halls and corridors are finished in marble mosaic, cream-colored terra cotta in artistic designs being used on the ceilings. The G. A. R. organizations of Cook county will occupy 18,500 square feet of the north section, known as Soldiers' Memorial Hall, for a term of fifty years. Estimated cost, $1,200,000. Erected in 1893-94.