Marquette Building - View this location on map In this building, an appropriate exterior aesthetic expression for the then-new, steel-framed skyscraper was found. The facade clearly reveals its underlying structure--with broad windows set in a framework of narrow piers and spandrels. Its open and well-lit interior layout, built around a central light court, significantly influenced the design of modern high-rise commercial structures. 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. The lobby is decorated with mosaic panels made by the Tiffany firm and bronze heads of native Americans, animals, and early explorers. 140 S. Dearborn St., Chicago , IL Historical Marquette Building - View this location on map Built 1893-94, this 16 story building demonstrates that its designers, Holabird and Roche, understood the implications of the then-new steel frame technology: the revolutionary new building material demanded rethinking of obsolete architectural theories. The first decisive statement on steel framing, the building's interior is a model of functional design that also retains some of the most handsome details--sculpture, marble, and mosaics--of any of the the Chicago buildings. 140 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois Historical, Architectural

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