Monadnock Building

Monadnock Building

The Monadnock Building is a 16-story skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the south Loop area of Chicago. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of Burnham & Root and built starting in 1891. The south half, constructed in 1893, is similar in color and profile to the original, but the design is more traditionally ornate. When completed, it was the largest office building in the world. It is currently on the market for $1.5 million.

About Monadnock Building in brief

Summary Monadnock BuildingThe Monadnock Building is a 16-story skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the south Loop area of Chicago. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of Burnham & Root and built starting in 1891. The south half, constructed in 1893, is similar in color and profile to the original, but the design is more traditionally ornate. When completed, it was the largest office building in the world. The building was remodeled in 1938 in one of the first major skyscraper renovations ever undertaken. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and named as part of the National Historic Landmark South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row North Historic District in 1976. It is divided into offices from 250 square feet to 6,000 square feet in size, and primarily serves independent professional firms. In 2007 it was listed for sale in 2007, and is currently on the market for $1.5 million. It has been called a “classic” and “one of the most exciting aesthetic experiences America’s commercial architecture produced” by modern critics. The MonadNock is part of a historic district that includes the Fisher Building, the Manhattan Building, and the Old Colony Building. The Great Fire of 1871 destroyed a 4-by-0 mile swath of the city between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The subsequent commercial development expanded into the area along the main business district along the river that would come to be known as the Chicago Board of Trade Building in 1885.

Between 1881 and 1885, the city’s financial companies bought up nearby property, driving up property values and driving up the value of nearby property. The construction of the Board of trade Building made the area attractive for several reasons, including its prime location and the nearby LaSalle Street railroad station. The Bank of Trade building was destroyed in the 1885 Great Chicago Fire of the 1871-1871. It had been built on a site on the corner of Jackson and Dearborn streets on the edge of what is now the South Side of Chicago, and was the first high-rise building to be built in the area. The board of trade building was the catalyst for an important new business center at the southern end of the Loop. In 1881, the Brooks family, which had amassed a fortune in the shipping insurance business and had been investing in Chicago real estate since 1863, had retained Chicago property manager Owen F. Aldis to manage the construction of a seven-story Grannis Block on Dearborn St. The Brooks brothers had retained the then-fledgling firm to design the Grannis block, which was their first major commission. By 1883, Aldis would create over 1,000,000 sq ft of new office space and manage nearly one fifth of the office space in the Loop, and by the end of that century, he would create nearly one million square feet of office space. The bank building was built in 1883.