Marquette Building

 

 

 

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

Built in the post-Fire building boom period of Chicago, the building has all the characteristics of the Chicago School of Architecture..
- Steel frame with terra cotta exterior..
- Tripartite facade, with features resembling a classical column.. with the base being the first two floors, the shaft or the middle section has long vertical lines and the top capital has ornamental details and is capped with a cornice..
- Typical "Chicago Window" with three parts with a large fixed center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows..

The lobby..
The building has as beautiful two-floor hexagonal lobby.. with Tiffany mosaic, mahogany doors and grill work in solid bronze. Each of these elements needs to be covered separately..
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The mosaics..
The lobby has stunning mosaic works by Louis Comfort Tiffany and J.A. Holzer. The mosaics interpret moments in the life and death of Father Marquette.. Three pictorial tablets describe events in the life of Father Marquette..
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Interior bronze portraits..
By Edward Kemeys and Amy Aldis Bradley..
Over each elevator on the first and second floor are bronze portraits of Native Americans and explorers. These sculptures are of people connected with the discovery and exploration of the great Northwest and the Mississippi River and Valley.
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Bronze doors..
The bronze doors have intricate patterns, with some very carvings, like panther heads and calumets by Edward Kemeys, who also sculpted most of the bronze portraits in the lobby...
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Exterior bronzes..
By Herman MacNeil..
Four bronze panels are placed over the front doors. These illustrate incidents in the life of Father Pere Marquette in his explorations of the Mississippi River and the state of Illinois. The inscriptions below are panels taken from Marquette’s diary.
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Referenced heavily from the MacArthur Foundation website on Marquette Building.. click here... MacArthur Foundation undertook it's massive restoration work..
"In 2001, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation took action to further restore this architectural treasure. After assuming ownership of the building, the Foundation had a choice: sell or save. MacArthur’s leadership viewed it as their responsibility to maintain this asset for their hometown and for the future. They assembled a team to study the building and determine what renovations were feasible with a dedication to authenticity and longevity.
They discovered many opportunities to restore the building accurately—the most challenging of which was the cornice. Undeterred, MacArthur launched a multiyear restoration program that included cleaning the terra cotta, replacing missing pieces, and restoring all the windows"...

For more on..
# Marquette building - the lobby.. click here..
# Marquette building - mosaics.. click here..
# Marquette buillding - mosaics-II.. click here..
# Marquette building - bronze portraits.. click here..
# Marquette building - bronze doors.. click here..
# Marquette building - exterior bronzes.. click here..