The Marquette Building [designated "Chicago Landmark"]

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The Marquette Building
Address: 140 S. Dearborn St.
Year Built: 1895
Architect: Holabird & Roche
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark:June 9, 1975 ...

# Added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 17, 1973 ....
# Named a National Historic Landmark in January 7, 1976.
# The building's preservation has been a major focus of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation completed an extensive four year restoration in 2006.

The building is named for Jacques Marquette, a French Jesuit missionary and explorer who, in 1674-75, wintered in the area that is now Chicago.

In this building, an appropriate exterior aesthetic expression for the then-new, steel-framed skyscraper was found. The facade clearly reveals its underlying structure; with broad windows set in a framework of narrow piers and spandrels. Its open and well-lit interior layout, built around a central light court, significantly influenced the design of modern high-rise commercial structures.

REF: Chicago landmarks: Marquette Building ..





The lobby:
The lobby is decorated with mosaic panels made by the Tiffany firm and bronze heads of native Americans, animals, and early explorers ...

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Allerton Hotel

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Allerton Hotel
Address: 701 N. Michigan Ave.
Year completed: 1924
Architect: Murgatroyd & Ogden, with Fugard & Knapp ...
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: May 29, 1998 ...

The Allerton represents a rare Chicago example of the North Italian Renaissance, a style of architecture that includes decorative brickwork, carved stone details, and a picturesque roofline evocative of buildings constructed in northern Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries ...



The 25-story structure was the city's first highrise to be built with pronounced setbacks and towers, features that were being encouraged by new municipal zoning laws. Built by the Allerton House Company, a national chain of "club hotels" that provided young professionals with the service of a hotel and the sociability of a private club, the Allerton helped bolster the redevelopment of North Michigan Avenue into a chic boulevard of exclusive shops, clubs, offices, and hotels.

REF: Chicago Landmarks: Allerton Hotel ..

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Delaware Building

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Delaware Building ...
Address: 36 W. Randolph St.
Year completed: 1874
Architect: Wheelock and Thomas ..
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: November 23, 1983 ...
The Delaware Building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 ...

Following the Great Fire of 1871 was a massive rebuilding of Chicago that included The Bryant Block. This Italianate building was an early example of the use of pre-cast concrete facades in Chicago. An 1889 remodeling by architect Julius Huber made the Bryant Block competitive with newer and larger commercial buildings. This was accomplished by adding two floors, an atrium, and redesigning the first two floors. Also at this time the building became known as The Real Estate Board Building. On November 1983, the now called Delaware Building was designated a Chicago Landmark by the City Council of Chicago under Mayor Harold Washington.



Part of the first two floors is occupied by McDonalds ... The Delaware Building is partt of the Loop Theater District ...



REF: Chicago Landmarks: Delaware Building ..
REF: Guaranty Nation Title Company ..

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Marshall Fields [ Now Macy's]

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Marshall Field & Company Store
Now Macy's at State Street..
Address: 101-149 North State Street..
The flagship store of Chicago's Marshall Field's at the State Street has been taken over New York's Macy's [since Sep, 2006].. It's slogan, "As Chicago as it gets", has been replaced by Macy's "Way to shop". However, I choose to write Marshall Fields, because I highlighting the accomplishments of the erstwhile Marshall Fields.. and all these pictures were taken when the store was still Marshall Fields.

The store was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1979, which implies that even after the takeover by Macy's, the name Marshall Field & Company Store, still remains on the walls of the store..

The store is an architectural marvel, with many well-known icons like:

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The Great Clocks..
The first clock to be installed was at the intersection of State & Washington, in 1897. It was replaced in 1907 with the one we see today. Another clock at the intersection of State & Randolph was installed in 1907.. Designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, these massive and elegant timepieces weigh more than seven tons each.
# For more.. click here..

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The Tiffany Ceiling ..
Unveiled on September 30, 1907.. it is the largest glass mosaic of it's kind in the world. The ceiling covers about 6,000 square feet area and contains 1.6 million pieces. The late Louis C. Tiffany designed this glass mosaic dome. The project took one-&-a-half years to complete with more than 50 men on scaffolds to inlay the glass.
# For more..click here..

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Walnut Room..
It opened on Sept. 30, 1907. Located on the 7th floor, it is one of the oldest operating restaurants in Chicago and the very first restaurant in a department store. Marshall Field's was the first departmental store to start providing lunch/tea in the store and it was here, in the Walnut Room.. The restaurant is 17,000 square feet, the walls are constructed of Circassian wood imported from Russia and the chandeliers are made with original Austrian crystal. At the center is a 17-foot marble fountain. The Walnut Room still serves the traditional chicken potpie made from Mrs. Hering's original recipe..
# For the story of Mrs Hering's recipe..

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Great Granite Pillars..
These were installed in 1902.. It's official website claims that only those at the Temple of Karnak in Egypt are talled than these ..[a claim which I find difficult to believe!]
I dont have very good images of the pillars. These pictures were taken in March 2006, when the store was still Marshall Field's. [Taken over by Macy's in Sep, 2006].. I somehow feel that Macy's is not as camera friendly, so maybe I'll wont be taking pictures inside of the store..

Marshall Field's has many FIRSTS in the retailing business ...
# First in-store dining,
# First escalators,
# First money-back-guarantee-return-policy,
# First bridal registry ...
among many other firsts ... It was more than just a place to shop, it was a place to socialize and confirm one's social position. It's a huge store, covering about two million square feet of floor-space and spreading over an entire city-block!

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Marshall Fields [The Great Clocks - by Graham, Anderson, Probst and White]

Great Clock at the intersection of State & Washington streets..

Great Clock at the intersection of State & Randolph streets..

The Great Clocks..
The first of the Marshall Field's great clocks and was installed at the corner of Washington and State Streets on November 26, 1897. It soon became Chicago's landmark.
- The Great Clock at State & Washington was first installed in 1897. It was replaced in 1907 with the one that we see today..
- The Great Clock at State & Randolph was installed in 1904.

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Designed by the firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, each clock is made of 7¾ tons of cast bronze and hung by ornamental ironwork projected several feet from the building.
The face of the clock is 46" across, the minute hand is 27" and the hour hand is 20½" long. The clock is impulse operated from a master timepiece located in the store. The timepiece is checked twice daily with the Arlington time signal and corrects the clocks every hour. On November 3, 1945 the clock was immortalized in a Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover with a repairman setting the landmark clock by his own pocket watch.


The Great Clock at State & Washington...
was first installed on Nov 26, 1897. This clock was replaced with the one we see today in 1907.


The Great Clock at State and Randolph [installed in 1904]..

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Tiffany Dome at Marshall Field's [Now Macy's]

Tiffany Dome..
Installed: 1907
Designed by Louis C. Tiffany
This Tiffany dome was built in 1907, which makes it more than a 100 years old. It is both the first dome to be built in favrile iridescent glass and is the largest glass mosaic of it's kind. It contains over 1.6 million pieces. The late Louis C. Tiffany designed this glass mosaic dome...

"Favrile" means handmade and the "iridescent effect" was obtained by mixing different colors of glass while hot. "Favrile iridescent glass" is a type of art glass patented in 1894 by Louis Comfort Tiffany...

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Walnut Room at Marshall Fields [ Now Macy's]

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WALNUT ROOM: Opened 1907 ..
In the early 20th century, men had gentlemen's clubs ... but there were hardly any place for women to socialize ... Those days ladies shopping downtown had to return home for lunch, as having lunch unescorted by a gentleman was considered unladylike ... Marshall Fields filled this void by becoming the first departmental store to start providing lunch/tea in this Walnut Room, opened in 1907!!! How this started is also very interesting ...

Way back in 1890, a Marshall Field's clerk Mrs. Hering, shared her lunch with a tired shopper ... it was a chicken pot pie ... Field's hit on the idea of opening a department store tea room, where women could eat [and not have to return home for lunch] ... This increased both their duration and frequency of shopping. Also women would come with their friends, so it soon became a place where women could socialize. Whats interesting is that the oldest culinary tradition "Mrs. Hering's Chicken Potpie" is still served in the Walnut Room ...

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REF:
Marshall Field and Company..

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