Marshall Field and Company Building
- Architect
- Daniel H. Burham & Charles Atwood
- Year
- 1892
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- the chicago school
The Marshall Field and Company Building is the flagship department store Daniel Burnham designed for retailer Marshall Field, built in two phases — the columned State Street entrance in 1901–1902 and the south end in 1905–1906 — on a site Field's company had occupied since 1868. It was the fourth store Field built on this block after founding his Chicago retail business in 1852, and it established numerous department-store firsts during its run as the chain's flagship. Marshall Field's operated the store until 2006, when Federated Department Stores converted it to Macy's after acquiring parent company May Department Stores; it remains the Midwest's Macy's flagship.
the building
A full city block. The building occupies an entire downtown block, bounded by State Street, Randolph Street, Wabash Avenue, and Washington Street — a footprint that let Field consolidate what had been a series of smaller store buildings on the same site since 1868 into one monumental structure.
Tiffany dome and clocks. The store is known for its Tiffany glass dome and its exterior clocks, fixtures that became landmarks of State Street in their own right and outlasted the Marshall Field's name itself.
the style
Burnham designed the building in the Beaux-Arts and Commercial idiom, giving a department store the columned, monumental facade usually reserved for civic buildings — a way of signaling that retail had become one of Chicago's central institutions.
More on Chicago Schoolthe architect
Daniel Burnham, with Charles Atwood, designed the building for Marshall Field; Burnham was among the most significant architects and city planners in Chicago's history, and this store was one of his major commercial commissions on State Street.
significance
The building is a National Historic Landmark, a Chicago Landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It operated as Marshall Field's flagship until 2006, when Federated Department Stores converted it to Macy's after acquiring parent company May Department Stores, and it remains the Midwest Macy's flagship today.
nearby
- One North State
- Reliance Building
- Pittsfield Building
- Chicago Public Library/Cultural Center
- Nederlander Theatre
- Chicago Theatre