Second Leiter Building

Last updated
Second Leiter Building
Leiter II Building.jpg
(2009)
Location Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°52′35.04″N87°37′38.56″W / 41.8764000°N 87.6273778°W / 41.8764000; -87.6273778
Built1891 [1]
Architect William Le Baron Jenney
NRHP reference No. 76000695 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJanuary 7, 1976
Designated NHLJanuary 7, 1976
Designated CLJanuary 14, 1997

The Second Leiter Building, also known as the Leiter II Building, the Sears Building, One Congress Center, and Robert Morris Center, [3] is located at the northeast corner of South State Street and East Ida B. Wells Drive in Chicago, Illinois. The building is not to be confused with the present Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower, constructed and owned by the famous nationwide mail-order firm Sears, Roebuck & Company. This landmark of the Chicago school of architecture gained fame for being one of the earliest commercial buildings constructed with a metal skeleton frame remaining in the United States.

Contents

Built in 1891 by Levi Z. Leiter, (1834–1904), the Second Leiter Building was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney, who implemented the skeletal frame made of steel to make the design fireproof. The building was leased by Levi Leiter to the department store of Siegel, Cooper and Company who occupied it for approximately seven years. [1] After Siegel Cooper closed, the building hosted various tenants until it became the downtown flagship store of Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1931. Sears occupied the space the until 1986 when it decided to close the store and the space was leased to other tenants. [4]

The structure is eight floors and occupies the entire block of State Street between Ida B. Wells Drive and Van Buren Street. The State Street facade consists of nine bays separated by wide pilasters. The pilasters are capped by simple capitals and an unadorned cornice crowns the entire structure. The Ida B. Wells and Van Buren facades are three bays wide with measurements of 400 ft (120 m) by 143 ft (44 m). Within each bay are four windows on each floor aligned vertically. The building is faced with a pink granite. Each floor contains 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) with 16 ft (4.9 m) ceilings and could be divided to house multiple tenants. [1]

Its predecessor, the First Leiter Building, was designed by Jenney in 1879 and stood at Wells and Monroe until it was demolished in 1972. The Second Leiter Building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a Chicago Landmark on January 14, 1997. From 1998 to 2020, the building was home to the Chicago campus of Robert Morris University, which vacated the space following its merger with Roosevelt University on March 9, 2020. [5] [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auditorium Building</span> United States historic place

The Auditorium Building in Chicago is one of the best-known designs of Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. Completed in 1889, the building is located at the northwest corner of South Michigan Avenue and Ida B. Wells Drive. The building was designed to be a multi-use complex, including offices, a theater, and a hotel. As a young apprentice, Frank Lloyd Wright worked on some of the interior design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Le Baron Jenney</span> American architect and engineer

William Le Baron Jenney was an American architect and engineer known for building the first skyscraper in 1884.

Marshall Field & Company was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc, acquired it in 2005. Its founder, Marshall Field, was a pioneering retail magnate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Home National Historic Site</span> National Historic Site of the United States

Lincoln Home National Historic Site preserves the Springfield, Illinois home and related historic district where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1844 to 1861, before becoming the 16th president of the United States. The presidential memorial includes the four blocks surrounding the home and a visitor center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monadnock Building</span> Historic skyscraper in Chicago

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. At 215 feet, it is the tallest load-bearing brick building ever constructed. It employed the first portal system of wind bracing in the United States. Its decorative staircases represent the first structural use of aluminum in building construction. The later south half, constructed in 1893, was designed by Holabird & Roche and 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 success of the building was the catalyst for an important new business center at the southern end of the Loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midtown Exchange</span> Building

The Midtown Exchange is a historic structure and mixed-use building located in the Midtown neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is the second-largest building in Minnesota in terms of leasable space, after the Mall of America. It was built in 1928 as a retail and mail-order catalog facility for Sears, which occupied it until 1994. It lay vacant until 2005, when it was transformed into multipurpose commercial space. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Sears, Roebuck and Company Mail-Order Warehouse and Retail Store.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Leiter Building</span> Former historic building in Chicago, IL, United States

The First Leiter building was a Chicago commercial structure built in 1879 by William Le Baron Jenney. It was renovated and extended in 1888, and demolished in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhattan Building (Chicago, Illinois)</span> United States historic place

The Manhattan Building is a 16-story building at 431 South Dearborn Street in Chicago, Illinois. It was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney and constructed from 1889 to 1891. It is the oldest surviving skyscraper in the world to use a purely skeletal supporting structure. The building was the first home of the Paymaster Corporation, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1976, and designated a Chicago Landmark on July 7, 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Field Building (Chicago)</span> Building in Chicago, Illinois

The Field Building, also known as the LaSalle National Bank Building and Bank of America Building is an art deco office building at 135 South LaSalle Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark February 9, 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landmark Center (Boston)</span> United States historic place

The Landmark Center or 401 Park Building in Boston, Massachusetts is a commercial center situated in a limestone and brick art deco building built in 1928 for Sears, Roebuck and Company. It features a 200-foot-tall (61 m) tower and, as Sears Roebuck and Company Mail Order Store, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Boston Landmark in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Board of Trade Building</span> Skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, 604-foot (184 m) Art Deco skyscraper located in the Chicago Loop, standing at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. Built in 1930 for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it has served as the primary trading venue of the CBOT and later the CME Group, formed in 2007 by the merger of the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In 2012, the CME Group sold the CBOT Building to a consortium of real estate investors, including GlenStar Properties LLC and USAA Real Estate Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printing House Row District</span> Historic district in Illinois, United States

The Printing House Row District is a National Historic Landmark District encompassing four architecturally important buildings on South Dearborn Street, between Jackson Boulevard and Ida B. Wells Drive, in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row Historic District and listed as a National Historic Landmark as South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row North Historic District on January 7, 1976. The district includes the Monadnock Building, the Manhattan Building, the Fisher Building, and the Old Colony Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic Michigan Boulevard District</span> Historic district of Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States encompassing Michigan Avenue between 11th or Roosevelt Road, depending on the source, and Randolph Streets and named after the nearby Lake Michigan. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 27, 2002. The district includes numerous significant buildings on Michigan Avenue facing Grant Park. This section of Michigan Avenue includes the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 66. The district is one of the world's best known one-sided streets rivalling Fifth Avenue in New York City and Edinburgh's Princes Street. It lies immediately south of the Michigan–Wacker Historic District and east of the Loop Retail Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex</span> United States historic place

The Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex is a building complex in the community area of North Lawndale in Chicago, Illinois. The complex hosted most of department-store chain Sears' mail order operations between 1906 and 1993, and it also served as Sears' corporate headquarters until 1973, when the Sears Tower was completed. Of its original 40-acre (16 ha) complex, only three buildings survive and have been adaptively rehabilitated to other uses. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, at which time it still included the 3,000,000-square-foot mail order plant, the world's largest commercial building when it was completed. That building has been demolished, its site taken up by the Homan Square redevelopment project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tower Life Building</span> Office building in San Antonio, TX

Tower Life Building is a 31-story building and a historical landmark in Downtown San Antonio, Texas, USA. Completed in 1929 and standing at 404 feet (123 m) tall, Tower Life Building was the tallest building and structure in San Antonio until the Tower of the Americas was completed in 1968, and the Marriott Rivercenter surpassed it as the tallest building in San Antonio in 1988. As of 2023, Tower Life Building is the 4th tallest building in San Antonio and the tallest eight-sided structure in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loop Retail Historic District</span> Historic district in Illinois, United States

Loop Retail Historic District is a shopping district within the Chicago Loop community area in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is bounded by Lake Street to the north, Ida B. Wells Drive to the south, State Street to the west and Wabash Avenue to the east. The district has the highest density of National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places and Chicago Landmark designated buildings in Chicago. It hosts several historic buildings including former department store flagship locations Marshall Field and Company Building, and the Sullivan Center. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 27, 1998. It includes 74 contributing buildings and structures, including 13 separately listed Registered Historic Places, and 22 non-contributing buildings. Other significant buildings in the district include the Joffrey Tower, Chicago Theatre, Palmer House, and Page Brothers Building. It also hosts DePaul University's College of Commerce, which includes the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and the Robert Morris College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building (Los Angeles, California)</span> United States historic place

The Sears, Roebuck & Company Mail Order Building is a historic landmark in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California. It served as a product distribution center and mail order facility for Sears, Roebuck & Company, with a retail store on the ground floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siegel-Cooper Company</span> Former largest department store globally

The Siegel-Cooper Company was a department store that opened in Chicago in 1887 and expanded into New York City in 1896. At the time of its opening, the New York store was the largest in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McFarlin Building</span> Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The McFarlin Building is a general office building located on the northeast corner of Fifth Street and Main in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. The five-story building was built in 1918 by Barnett, Haynes & Barnett for oilman Robert M. McFarlin, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a contributing property for the Oil Capital Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgomery Ward Building (Burlington, Vermont)</span> United States historic place

The Burlington Montgomery Ward Building is a historic former department store building located at 52-54 Church Street, between Cherry and Bank Streets, in the Church Street Marketplace of downtown Burlington, Vermont. Erected in 1929, it is a fine example of Classical Revival architecture, and is the best-preserved of the small number of original Montgomery Ward stores built by that retailer in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 "Second Leiter Building". Society of Architectural Historians. 2010. Archived from the original on November 29, 2010. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
  3. "One Congress Center, Chicago | 1245222 | EMPORIS". Emporis . Emporis. Archived from the original on September 9, 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. "State Street". Chicago Neighborhood and City Guide. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  5. "Our Mission, History and Credentials". Robert Morris University. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  6. "Roosevelt University gets approval to integrate Robert Morris Illinois | Roosevelt University". www.roosevelt.edu. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
Bibliography