Phenix Building
- Architect
- Burnham and Root
- Style
- Romanesque Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
The Phenix Building was a Loop office building designed by Burnham and Root and completed in 1887 for the Phenix Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Brooklyn, New York, occupying the block fronting Jackson Boulevard between Pacific Avenue (now LaSalle Street) and Clark Street. It later passed to the Western Union Telegraph Company and then to manufacturer and philanthropist Frederick C. Austin, who in 1929 donated it to Northwestern University to fund scholarships for training business executives.
the building
An unusual footprint. The building measured 215 feet along Jackson Boulevard but only 50 feet deep, an elongated plan for its block. It cost $1 million to build, on top of roughly $400,000 paid for the land.
the style
Burnham and Root designed the Phenix Building in the Romanesque Revival style, though no further description of its ornamental detailing survives beyond that classification.
More on Romanesque Revivalsignificance
Frederick C. Austin's 1929 gift transferred the Phenix Building to Northwestern University for scholarship income. The building was demolished in 1957 and replaced on the site by the twenty-four-story TransUnion Building, designed by A. Epstein and Sons.
nearby
- Chicago Board of Trade Building
- Rookery Building
- Kluczynski Federal Building
- Fort Dearborn Hotel
- Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago building
- Monadnock Building