Chicago Board of Trade Building, Art Deco high-rise building in Chicago Loop, United States
The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, 604-foot Art Deco skyscraper at 141 West Jackson Boulevard, closing the view at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. Its central shaft of pale gray and tan stone rises between stepped, recessed setbacks, with dark rectangular windows set in continuous vertical piers. Flat stone bands cap the lower sections, and carved geometric panels trim the flat roofline. An aluminum, three-story statue of Ceres, Roman goddess of grain, tops the building.
The 1885 Boyington building on this site was demolished in 1929 after construction of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago across the street left it structurally unsound. Holabird & Root designed the current 44-story tower, built by Hegeman & Harris for $11.3 million and completed in 1930. It remained Chicago's tallest building until 1965, when the Richard J. Daley Center surpassed it.
The three-story aluminum figure of Ceres, Roman goddess of grain, caps the building; it was sculpted by John H. Storrs, who left the face plain because it is not visible from the street. The building's name comes from the Chicago Board of Trade, founded in 1848, which still trades grain and other commodities here.
The main entrance is on Jackson Boulevard and leads into the two-story lobby with its bronze doors and polished stone walls. Visitors can enter the ground floor during office hours, though access to the upper floors is restricted to tenants and their guests.
On the ground floor a small public passageway offers pedestrians a shortcut through the block. The bronze details on the elevator doors show geometric patterns that recall grain fields and farm machinery.
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