The Railway Exchange Building, also known as Santa Fe Building, is a 17-story office building in the

Historic Michigan Boulevard District The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the Chicago Loop, Loop Community areas in Chicago, community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States encompassing Michigan Avenue (Chicago), Michigan Avenue be ...

of the Loop community area of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

, United States. It was designed by Frederick P. Dinkelberg of D. H. Burnham & Company in the Chicago style. Dinkelberg was also the associate designer to

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...

for the

Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a 22-story, steel-framed triangular building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinke ...

in New York City. It opened in 1904 at 224 South Michigan Avenue. The building is recognizable by the large "Motorola" logo on the roof, which is visible from Grant Park across Michigan Ave and from

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...

. It is also notable for the round,

porthole A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehic ...

-like windows along the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. The center of the building features a

lightwell In architecture, a lightwell,light well, light-well sky-well,skywell, sky well or air shaft is an unroofed or roofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or u ...

, which was covered with a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History O ...

in the 1980s.

Architecture

The formal entrance to the building is located on Jackson Boulevard, which in 1904 was a more important street than Michigan Avenue. The impressive entrance is believed to have been required by

, head of the architectural firm and the building's main stockholder. The firm moved its offices to the fourteenth floor, and Burnham's descendants continued ownership in the building until 1952.Clarke, Jane H., Saliga, Pauline A. and Zukowsky, John
''The Sky’s the Limit: A Century of Chicago Skyscrapers''
New York: Rizzoli International, 1990. With updates by John Cramer of the

Society of Architectural Historians The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide. Based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, the Society's 3,500 members inc ...

. This Chicago School of Architecture building with Beaux Arts detailing is organized as a classicization of

John Wellborn Root John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891) was an American architect who was based in Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style. Two of his buildings have been designated National Hist ...

Rookery A rookery is a colony of breeding rooks, and more broadly a colony of several types of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds. Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-fo ...

. A street-level, two-story enclosed court designed in a symmetrical Beaux-Arts style was surmounted by an open lightwell which was surrounded by a ring of offices. By the formal arched entrance on Jackson Boulevard, a large staircase led to shops and a second-floor balcony. White-glazed

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

sheaths the exterior façade and interior court and the lightwell is lined with white-glazed brick. Classical designs were used for the ornamental

dentil A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...

baluster A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

s, and column capitals. The building is completely

steel-framed Steel frame is a building technique with a "skeleton frame" of vertical steel columns and horizontal I-beams, constructed in a rectangular grid to support the floors, roof and walls of a building which are all attached to the frame. The develop ...

. In July 2012, the Santa Fe sign was replaced with an illuminated Motorola sign when

Motorola Solutions Motorola Solutions, Inc. is an American technology, communications, and security company, headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. It is the legal successor of Motorola, Inc., following the spinoff of the mobile phone division into Motorola ...

began a lease on one floor of the building. The Santa Fe letters were given to the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview ...

. After a four-year restoration, the sign was put on display at the museum in 2016. The building is significant as a historic site because Daniel Burnham and his staff made the 1909

Plan of Chicago The Burnham Plan is a popular name for the 1909 ''Plan of Chicago'' coauthored by Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennett and published in 1909. It recommended an integrated series of projects including new and widened streets, parks, new railr ...

in a penthouse on the northeast corner of the roof.

Tenants

The building was originally built as a railway exchange for the

Santa Fe railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Railroad classes, Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight tra ...

. Burnham & Company had offices on the 14th floor. Though the firm's successor,

Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W) was a Chicago architectural firm that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through Daniel Burnham's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham, and Burnh ...

, has moved, a number of architectural organizations still practice there, including the Goettsch Partners, VOA Associates, Harding Partners, and the Chicago offices of

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill SOM, an initialism of its original name Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, is a Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings. In 1939, they were joined by engineer ...

and landscape architecture and planning firm, Design Workshop. The building was purchased by the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

in 2006. The university's Mendoza College of Business began holding classes there in 2008. From 2009 to 2018, visitors enjoyed the 320-square-foot

Chicago Architecture Foundation The Chicago Architecture Center (CAC), formerly the Chicago Architecture Foundation, is a nonprofit cultural organization based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, whose mission is to inspire people to discover why design matters. Founded in ...

scale model of central Chicago in the building's atrium. [An expanded model — with accompanying light show and interpretation — is now at 111 East Wacker Drive, where the CAF moved in 2018; CAF simultaneously changed its name to the Chicago Architecture Center or CAC. CAC continues to update the expanded city model to reflect architectural changes in the downtown area.] In 2011, Anacostia Rail Holdings Company, Anacostia Rail Holdings moved its corporate headquarters to the Railway Exchange Building.

Position in Chicago's skyline

The Railway Exchange Building appears (unlabelled) in front of

Three First National Plaza Three First National Plaza is a 57-story office tower in Chicago located at 70 West Madison Street. Completed in 1981, the building is one of the tallest in Chicago at . The building was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in a sawtooth sha ...

in the image below:

References

External links

Santa Fe Building
- Hamilton Partners * - emporis.com *Gold, Anita.
Historic Santa Fe Building proper site for benefit
" ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. May 15, 1992. Friday Section, Start Page 71. {{National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Chicago school architecture in Illinois 1904 establishments in Illinois Office buildings completed in 1904

Architecture

Tenants

Position in Chicago's skyline

See also

References

External links