140 South Dearborn Street, Loop Downtown Chicago IL United States
Status:
built
Construction Dates
Began
1893
Finished
1895
Floor Count
17
Building Uses
- office
Structural Types
- highrise
Heights
Value
Source / Comments
Roof
205 ft
Switch heights to
Description • Architect: Holabird & Roche.
• Others: George A. Fuller Company, Peter & Shephard Brooks, Purdy & Henderson.
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• Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary and explorer, spent the winter of 1674-75 in the area of today Chicago, giving the name to the building.
• The building was the downtown headquarters for over 30 railroad companies in the 1930ies years.
• Its classic Chicago School Architecture design example has as elements, a horizontally banded brown terra cotta wave-like moldings façade, an open grid design which expresses the steel frame of the skyscraper, decorated with bronze heads of native Americans' animals and early explorers, like for example, the carvings of panther's heads on the revolving door panels. Original design had been added of one extra floor, and 26 feet of additional frontage to the west in 1905.
• The hexagonal lobby atrium is decorated with a mosaic representing facts of the Jacques Marquette life, made by Tiffany studio. This lobby connects to Edison Building by a covered passage.
• National Historic Landmark in 1978.
• The cornice atop the building was renovated in 2003.
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