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116-688: Built by Marshall Field & Co. and later owned for over half a century by the Kennedy family , the Mart centralizes Chicago's wholesale goods business by consolidating architectural and interior design vendors and trades under a single roof. It has become home to several other enterprises, including the Shops at the Mart , the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Art , Motorola Mobility ,

232-673: A University of Chicago professor and founder of the McKinsey and Company consulting firm, was hired to reform the Company. The wholesale division, once the core of the Company, was liquidated by 1936. The Davis Store was closed in 1936 as well, and its building was sold to Goldblatts . In 1939, the land underlying the main State Street store was acquired from the Marshall Field Trust. Meanwhile, McKinsey also reorganized

348-585: A real estate investment trust . That same year, Vornado Inc. was converted into a REIT , Vornado Realty Trust. In 1995, Vornado bought Citicorp's interest in Alexander's. In 1989, the Vornado name was licensed to Vornado Air , LLC, a new company formed to manufacture heating and cooling equipment. Outside of the brand licensing agreement, the Trust has no modern relation to Vornado Air, LLC. In April 1997,

464-494: A $ 100 million-plus stake in Vornado. As of 2007, the building was valued at $ 917 million. The Merchandise Mart was modernized in the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1961 the Indian chiefs were removed and replaced with concrete plates, of minimal note to onlookers as skyscrapers did not rise on the north side of the river as predicted. In 2014, some of the carvings were found in a suburban backyard and auctioned. In 1962, an entrance canopy

580-566: A building similar to the Evanston store. Frederick & Nelson , a Seattle, Washington -based department store founded in 1890, was also acquired in 1929, with its own 1914 downtown Seattle building at Pine Street and Fifth Avenue. Frederick & Nelson retained its name, though its logo was soon rewritten in Field's iconic script. Frederick & Nelson created Frango mints, a Seattle tradition then and now. The mints were later also produced in

696-552: A collection, while others offer design services, preservation, renovation, or installation. In addition to being a resource for architects and decorators, the Mart also has featured award-winning designs as selected by the American Institute of Architects . Catering to suppliers, on-site firms specialize in providing professional services for market research projects. In 1931, Marshall Field and Company lost $ 5 million, followed by $ 8 million in 1932. The wholesale division

812-773: A discount store called "The Davis Store." In 1924, the 1893–1914 buildings that the store occupied were acquired from the Marshall Field Trust. The first branch of Marshall Field's itself opened at Market Square in Lake Forest, Illinois in May 1928. In September 1928, its first branch in Evanston, Illinois followed, later relocating to a French Renaissance-style building at Sherman Avenue and Church Street in November 1929. The Oak Park, Illinois store opened in September 1929 in

928-540: A good friend of Marshall Field and Joseph Kennedy, brokered the building's sale. At the time Klein was a partner of Field and together they started Fieldcrest Mills. Klein maintained that Kennedy's bargain price was predicated on an oral agreement between Field and Kennedy that after the sale the building would be donated to the University of Chicago and that Kennedy would take the tax deduction. No documentary evidence of this agreement exists. The building revenues became

1044-409: A half feet wide by seven feet tall, the terra cotta figures were barely visible from the street, meant to be viewed from the upper floors of the skyscrapers planned to rise along the riverbank. The lobby of The Merchandise Mart is defined by eight square marble piers, with storefronts in side aisles framed in embossed bronze trim. The green and orange terrazzo floor was conceived as a carpet :

1160-747: A location at Orland Square Mall in Orland Park , followed by the Louis Joliet Mall in Joliet in 1978. In 1979, Marshall Field's expanded south into Texas with a store at The Galleria in Houston . The year 1980 saw the rapid acquisition of J.B. Ivey Co. , a department store chain with roots in Charlotte, North Carolina , and Jacksonville, Florida ; The Union Co. in Columbus, Ohio ;

1276-429: A major role in the sales department. Women sales clerks were trained in etiquette and acquired a thorough understanding of the merchandise. The presence of saleswomen was a crucial part of the success of Marshall Field's, as they made female customers more comfortable and therefore made shopping at Marshall Field's fun. The opportunities available for women at Marshall Field's created a subculture of working women. During

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1392-446: A minimum of two hours of programming per day. April 15, 1956, is remembered as "C-Day" at WMAQ-TV , and was described by Broadcasting-Telecasting magazine as "a daring breakthrough the black-and-white curtain." With Mayor Richard J. Daley looking on, NBC President David Sarnoff operated the controls as Channel 5 became the world's first all-color TV station as "Wide, Wide World" was broadcast to 110 NBC-TV affiliated stations across

1508-496: A new five-story store at their old location they now leased from the Singer Sewing Machine Company , Palmer having sold the land site to finance his own rebuilding activities. This store was expanded in 1876, only to be destroyed by fire again in November 1877. Ever tenacious, Field and Leiter had a new temporary store opened by the end of the month at a lakefront exposition hall they leased temporarily from

1624-580: A new, six-story edifice he had just built at the northeast corner of State and Washington Streets. The store was soon referred to as the "Marble Palace" owing to its costly marble stone face. When the Great Chicago Fire broke out on October 8, 1871, news of this, one of the worst conflagrations to ever strike an American city, reached company officials Henry Willing and Levi Leiter, who decided to load as much of their expensive merchandise as possible onto wagons and take it to Leiter's home, which

1740-477: A pattern of squares and stripes bordered by overscaled chevrons inlaid with The Mart's initials . The chevron theme is continued in the column sconces lighting an ornamented cornice overhead. Referred to as "business boulevards", two wide 650 feet (200 m) long corridors with terrazzo floors in the upper levels featured six and one-half miles of display windows. Building regulations specified identical entrances along corridors but tenants could personalize

1856-493: A peak in the form of a skyscraper, and rests in the southern half of the building. Deeply recessed portals occur between raised panels, and are adorned with medallions featuring the interlocked initials of the Merchandise Mart. The same logo occurs throughout the building. Fifty-six American Indian chiefs circled the tower's crown, a reference to the site's history and Chicago's early trade activities. Three and

1972-513: A principal source of Kennedy family wealth, often used for political campaign funding. In 1998 the Kennedys sold the property to Vornado Realty Trust as part of a larger $ 625 million ($ 1.2 billion in current dollars) transaction. When it was sold, the Merchandise Mart was also the Kennedy family's last remaining operating business. That year, Vornado acquired MMPI for $ 450 million cash and

2088-647: A temporary location (a horse-streetcar barn of the Chicago City Railway Co. at State & 20th Streets). Six months later, in April 1872, Field & Leiter reopened in an unburned building at Madison and Market Streets (today's West Wacker Drive). Salesman Parker stayed on with the Company for 45 more years, rising to the level of General Sales Manager. Two years later, in October 1873, Field and Leiter returned to State Street at Washington, opening in

2204-575: A third new building opened on Wabash Avenue north of the 1893 structure, which was then the oldest part of the store. In the midst of the construction, Selfridge abruptly resigned from the company in 1904, buying a rival store Schlesinger & Mayer , but sold it only three months later. Schlesinger & Mayer in 1899 had commissioned the Louis Sullivan-designed building now known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building , which

2320-519: A westward extension of double-deck Wacker Drive increased development on the south riverbank . In 1927, Marshall Field & Co. announced its plans to build on the north bank opposite Wacker Drive. The site, bordered by Orleans Street, Wells Street , Kinzie Street, and the Chicago River , was formerly a Native American trading post and the site of Chicago and North Western Railway 's former Wells Street Station , abandoned in 1911 in favor of

2436-708: Is a real estate investment trust formed in Maryland in 1982, with its primary office in New York City . The company invests in office buildings and street retail in Manhattan. Notable properties owned by the company include: The company also owns: The origins of the company can be traced back to the Two Guys discount store chain, founded in 1947 by brothers Sidney and Herbert Hubschman. In 1959, Two Guys acquired O. A. Sutton Corporation , manufacturers of

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2552-505: Is a digital art display begun in 2018. It provides a 2.5 acre "canvas" (2 football fields) for digital artwork projected on the Chicago River facing facade of the Merchandise Mart. It featured works from the nonprofit organization Arts of Life . The project is intended to be the largest digital art projection in the world and is scheduled to occur over thirty years with annual showings initially between March and December. In 2019 it

2668-527: Is not rectangular in shape, having been constructed after the bascule bridges over the Chicago River were completed. The control house for the double decked Wells Street Bridge stands between the lower level and the southeast corner of the building. The Franklin Street Bridge stands at the southwest corner of the building, at the junction of Orleans Street and Franklin Street. The building slants at

2784-651: Is on the second floor. The Apparel Center houses the 521-room Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza River North hotel, the offices of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago , as well as the Chicago office of the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency. GoHealth occupies 93,000 square feet (8,600 m) on the 5th floor of Merchandise Mart, the Potbelly Sandwich Works ' corporate offices are located in

2900-594: Is the firm to which Selfridge sold the business. After trying retirement, he went on to establish Selfridges in London . Marshall Field died on January 16, 1906, in New York City . On the day of his funeral, all the stores along State Street, big and small, closed and the Chicago Board of Trade suspended afternoon trading in his honor. The board of Marshall Field and Company appointed John G. Shedd , (1850–1926), whom Field had once called "the greatest merchant in

3016-460: The Art Chicago international art fair. Before the location even opened, NBC announced plans to build studios in the Mart. When opened on October 20, 1930, the nineteenth-floor location covered 65,000 square feet (6,000 m) and supported a variety of live broadcasts including those requiring orchestras. WENR and WMAQ broadcast from the location. Expanded in 1935, with office space in

3132-624: The Chicago and North Western Passenger Terminal . With the railroad's air rights , the site was large enough to accommodate "the largest building in the world". Removing the train yard supported the Chicago Plan Commission 's desire to develop and beautify the riverfront. James Simpson, president of Marshall Field & Co. from 1923 to 1930 and chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission from 1926 to 1935, turned

3248-780: The Dallas Galleria , in Dallas , Texas , in 1982. In 1982, Marshall Field & Co. ceased to be a public company, being acquired by B.A.T. British-American Tobacco . As part of BATUS Retail Group, the American retailing arm of B.A.T., Field's and its Frederick & Nelson, Ivey's and The Crescent department stores and the John Brueners home furnishings stores joined retailers Gimbels , Saks Fifth Avenue and Kohl's . Field's continued to expand under BATUS, adding stores at Houston's Town & Country Mall in 1983 and at

3364-535: The John G. Shedd Aquarium and the University of Chicago have all been aided by the philanthropy of Marshall Field's. Marshall Field was also a major sponsor of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition . Strawbridge's added to division in 1996 Meier & Frank added to division in 2002 ; Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution (2001, to Meier & Frank) Vornado Realty Trust Vornado Realty Trust

3480-1122: The Lipman's stores in Portland, Oregon ; and several Liberty House stores in Washington state . Field's existing Frederick & Nelson unit in Seattle absorbed the Lipman's and Liberty House stores under its name, but after initially merging The Union of Columbus, Ohio with its earlier Halle's stores from Cleveland , Field's decided to sell the combined chain in November 1981; the new owners quickly liquidated it. The early 1980s saw slower expansion, with just two store locations in Illinois added, one in October 1980 at Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee , and one in 1981 at Stratford Square Mall in Bloomingdale . Another Texas store opened at

3596-546: The North Star Mall in San Antonio in 1986. Only four years after buying Marshall Field's, however, BATUS scaled back its retail operations in 1986, selling Field's former subsidiaries Frederick & Nelson and The Crescent to a local investor group. Frederick & Nelson quickly deteriorated and became defunct in 1992. Its 1914 building, the one acquired by Field's in 1929, was eventually bought by Nordstrom ;

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3712-462: The behemoth lit in pink for Cancer Awareness Month. To note the 2006 Chicago Bears season , highlighted by reaching Super Bowl XLI , the building was lit with team colors, orange floodlights for the setbacks and blue floodlights for the towers. Red and green lights are used during the Christmas season. During the Art Chicago 2008 the American artist Jenny Holzer illuminated the facade of

3828-402: The 1879 structure later in 1906. In its stead rose a new south State Street building with a continuation of the 1902 street façade. Opened in September 1907, it included a Louis Comfort Tiffany - decorated ceiling that is both the first and largest ceiling ever built in favrile glass , containing over 1.6 million pieces. With completion of the 1907 building, Marshall Field's momentarily possessed

3944-555: The 1914 building designed by the Graham, Burnham & Company architectural firm, completing the present-day store and now encompassing the entire square city block, bounded by Washington, State, Wabash, and Randolph Streets. Also in 1914, the same Graham, Burnham & Company supervised the opening of a new twenty-story Marshall Field Annex across the street at 25 East Washington, which housed "Marshall Field's Store for Men" on its first six floors. These buildings recaptured its status as

4060-426: The 19th century, ladies shopping downtown returned home for lunch; having lunch at a downtown restaurant unescorted by a gentleman was not considered ladylike. But after a Marshall Field's clerk shared her lunch (a chicken pot pie) with a tired shopper, Field's hit on the idea of opening a department store tea room, so that women shoppers would not feel the need to make two trips to complete their shopping. To this day,

4176-422: The 60,000 tons of steel . An estimated 7.5 miles (10 km) of corridors and over 30 elevators were included in the construction. The total cost was estimated at $ 26 million. The Merchandise Mart opened on May 5, 1930, just east of Chicago's original trading post , Wolf Point . The building realized Marshall Field’s dream of a single wholesale center for the nation and consolidated 13 different warehouses. It

4292-668: The Company's vertically integrated operations, notably by merging the Company's varied textile operations under the Fieldcrest name. Following World War II , the Merchandise Mart building was sold in 1945 to Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. , (1888–1969), significantly improving the Field Company's finances and enabling the store to cope with the post-war suburban residential and commercial boom. Marshall Field's presciently followed its customers to their new homes outwards to

4408-655: The Grainger Technology Group branch of W.W. Grainger , and the Chicago tech startup center 1871. It was sold in January 1998 to Vornado Realty Trust . The Merchandise Mart is so large that it had its own ZIP Code (60654) until 2008, when the Postal Service assigned the ZIP Code to part of the surrounding area. In 2010, the building opened its Design Center showrooms to the public. In 1926,

4524-546: The Marshall Field's windows at Christmas became a tradition for Chicagoans and visitors alike, as popular a local practice as visiting the Walnut Room with its equally famous Christmas tree or meeting "under the clock" on State Street. Marshall Field was famous for his slogan "Give the lady what she wants." He was also famous for his integrity, character, and community philanthropy and leadership. After his death,

4640-557: The Mart Center has reduced pollution by 264,018 pounds (119,757 kg), the largest reduction by a commercial building. In 2006, the Mart Center recycling program saved over 13,000 trees and recycled nearly 11 million pounds of waste, while water conservation efforts saved 5.5 million US gallons (21,000 m) of water. More than eight percent of the estimated 10,000 people working at the Mart walk, bike or take public transportation; to encourage greener methods of transportation,

4756-499: The Mart and the Apparel Center. After a 10-year, $ 100 million modernization in the late 1980s that included public utility upgrades, Beyer Blinder Belle 's commission in 1989 was to create additional perimeter entrances and restore the display windows, main entrance, and lobby. On the south facade, the drive-through canopy was removed and two smaller doorways aside the main entrance added. Display windows, painted over during

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4872-489: The Mart expanded bicycle storage capacity to more than 200. In 2009, MMPI converted all stationery to a one hundred percent post-consumer recycled product. The Mart has nine LEED-certified showrooms, with five others on their way to LEED certification. Wholesale showrooms occupied 50% of the usable floor space as of 2007. In 1983, the Sultan of Brunei once spent $ 1.6 million at the Mart to furnish his entire palace, claiming

4988-565: The Mart, it was the largest building in the world to be awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification in 2007 from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). The Mart has long been implementing sustainable practices. The Mart Center began operating a thermal storage facility in 1986, capable of building 2,000,000 pounds (910,000 kg) of ice per night, cooling 71 buildings in

5104-646: The May Company in 2005. After the Federated purchase, Marshall Field's stores joined L. S. Ayres and existing Macy's stores in the new Macy's North Division. During 2006, all Marshall Field's stores, most Filene's and all the stores of nine other May-owned chains were renamed Macy's , the conversion officially occurred on September 9, 2006. Many Chicagoans resented the New York City brand replacing their local brand. Hundreds of protesters gathered under Marshall Field's famous clock that day, and returned on

5220-414: The May acquisition. The 2004 renovations included the installation of new lower-level shops, removal of steel grates from the upper portions of the store's historic light wells, and the addition of an eleven-story atrium in what had been an alley and mid-store light shaft. In 2004, Field's also introduced significant upgrades to merchandise and the introduction of luxury vendor relationships, in which 10% of

5336-412: The Merchandise Mart. A retail shopping area, named The Shops at the Mart, opened in 1991 and includes apparel shops, beauty services, bookstores and newsstands , financial services, telecommunication services, travel services, specialty food and wine stores, photo services, a dry cleaner , shoe shine stand, and a food court . A U.S. Post Office is located on the first floor and a FedEx location

5452-614: The Palazzo Ducale rises above the towers of the Piazza San Marco. "To immortalize outstanding American merchants", Joseph Kennedy in 1953 commissioned eight bronze busts , four times life size, which would come to be known as the Merchandise Mart Hall of Fame: All of the busts rest on white pedestals lining the Chicago River and face north toward the gold front door of the building. "Art on theMART"

5568-660: The State Street flagship store led by Director of Construction and Maintenance Bill Allen commenced in 1987. BATUS initially kept Saks Fifth Avenue, Marshall Field's, and Ivey's; however, it sold all its remaining U.S. retail assets in 1990, with Saks going to Bahrain-based Investcorp , Ivey's sold to Dillard's , and Marshall Field's sold to then Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now Target Corporation ). Dayton-Hudson Corporation renamed itself Target Corporation in 2000 and renamed its Dayton's and Hudson's department stores Marshall Field's in 2001. These stores were outside of Field's existing markets. Target Corporation introduced some of

5684-492: The United States", to serve as the company's new president. Shedd became head of a company that employed 12,000 people in Chicago (two-thirds of them in retail) and was doing about $ 25 million in yearly retail sales in addition to nearly $ 50 million in wholesale. Under Shedd's leadership for the next 16 years, Marshall Field & Co. continued to rebuild its store, fulfilling plans approved by Field himself to pull down

5800-493: The Vornado line of electric fans, and the company was subsequently renamed Vornado Inc. By 1964, the company operated over 200 stores. In the 1970s, Vornado began divesting its retail operations. In 1978, the company sold 80 Two Guys locations in California. In 1980, Interstate Properties Inc., a real estate development company controlled by Steven Roth , acquired an 18% stake in Vornado, since Roth became interested in

5916-478: The Walnut Room serves the traditional Mrs. Herring's chicken pot pie. Marshall Field's had the first European buying office, which was located in Manchester, England , and the first bridal registry . The company was the first to introduce the concept of the personal shopper, and that service was provided without charge in every Field's store, right up to the chain's last days under the Marshall Field's name. It

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6032-588: The board of directors of Vornado. In 2005, the company bought a 32.5% interest in Toys "R" Us . Toys "R" Us filed bankruptcy in 2018 and the investment was written off. In 2013, Steven Roth replaced Michael D. Fascitelli as CEO of Vornado. Fascitelli had been CEO since 2009. In 2015, the company spun off its interest in Urban Edge Properties, a spinoff consisting of its former retail holdings outside Manhattan, to its shareholders. In 2017,

6148-483: The brands carried there to the Marshall Field's stores, displacing some of Field's more expensive merchandise. In 2004 Target Corporation sold the Marshall Field's chain to May Co. , thereby exiting the department store business entirely. It was hoped that aligning with the May Company instead of the discounter Target would "let Field's be Field's" and allow it to recapture its former cachet and upper-class customer base. However, Federated Department Stores, Inc. acquired

6264-414: The building is the second-largest department store in the United States. In 1987, while under BATUS ownership, Field's State Street store underwent significant restoration. In 2004, while Field's was still owned by Dayton Hudson/Target, another extensive restoration of the landmark State Street store, costing $ 115 million (~$ 178 million in 2023), was begun; the last of the renovation was completed after

6380-594: The building rose. Continuously employing 2,500 men and as many as 5,700 men altogether, the construction project lasted a year and a half into the early months of the Great Depression . With a foundation footprint of nearly two square city blocks, the building required 29 million bricks, 40 miles (64 km) of plumbing, 380 miles (610 km) of wiring, nearly 4 million cubic yards (3,100,000 m) of concrete, 200,000 cubic feet (5,700 m) of stone, and 4,000 windows. Bethlehem Steel fabricated much of

6496-751: The building with a poem by the Polish winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature Wisława Szymborska . In 2018, a large projection screen began displaying images and videos across the structure's riverfront side. Nighttime lighting on the Mart typically matches the colors of antenna lighting on the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center , as well as the colors used on the top floors of the Aon Center . Under Chris Kennedy 's leadership of

6612-504: The business in 1917. The Field Family eventually retained only a ten percent stake. Second company president, John G. Shedd retired in late 1922. In 1913, representatives of Carson Pirie Scott and Marshall Field's were called to the state capital of Illinois at Springfield for the Illinois State Senate's investigation of the low wages of the female employees of the major department stores. At Marshall Field's, women were not only typists or other types of clerical workers, they also had

6728-416: The candy kitchen in the State Street store and became popular in Chicago, too. Marshall Field & Company became a public company in 1930, early in the " Great Depression ". The retailer needed capital due to the expense of opening the massive new Merchandise Mart to house its flagging wholesale division. Ground was broken in 1927 during the boom years of the "Roaring 20s"; when the Mart opened in 1930, it

6844-404: The city's then-largest dry goods firm – Cooley, Wadsworth & Company . Just prior to the American Civil War , in 1860, Field and bookkeeper Levi Z. Leiter became junior partners in the firm, then known as Cooley, Farwell & Company. In 1864, the firm, then led by senior partner John V. Farwell, Sr. , was renamed Farwell, Field & Company. only for Field and Leiter to soon withdraw from

6960-409: The city, located at what is now the site of the present Art Institute of Chicago . Meanwhile, the Singer company had speculatively built a new, even larger, six-story building on the ruins of their old 1873 store, which, after some contention, was personally bought by Field and Leiter. Field, Leiter & Company now reclaimed their traditional location at the northeast corner of State and Washington for

7076-449: The company acquired a company owned by Bernard H. Mendik in a $ 654 million stock transaction that added a large portfolio of office buildings in Manhattan to Vornado's assets. Mendik became co-chairman of Vornado until his resignation in October 1998. On February 15, 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado Realty Trust had won the bid for a 99-year lease for the World Trade Center , offering $ 3.25 billion. Silverstein Properties

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7192-430: The company remained to the very end a major philanthropic contributor to its Chicago-area community. Field, the store he created and his successor John G. Shedd , helped establish Chicago's prominence throughout the world in business, art, culture, and education. The Art Institute of Chicago , the Field Museum of Natural History (as renamed in 1905 for its first major benefactor), the Museum of Science and Industry ,

7308-412: The company's real estate holdings. In 1981, Interstate Properties took control of the firm after winning a proxy struggle against existing management and closed additional stores, reducing the number of stores in operation to 12. In 1986, Interstate Properties and Donald Trump each bought approximately 20% of Alexander's , a failing retailer whose real estate holdings included a store that occupied

7424-400: The country. The color conversion project cost more than $ 1.25 million with advertising costing $ 175,000. On "C-Day", three skywriting planes flew over the city, trailing streams of red, green and blue smoke. WMAQ-TV first installed color equipment in late 1953, with the Tournament of Roses Parade of 1954 as the first major broadcast. Introduced in March 1955, the first local color program

7540-518: The development included a new Field's store. This was followed by the 1959 opening of a Field's store in the Mayfair Mall in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin , to the northwest, and stores at later Klutznick-led shopping centers opened at Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook, Illinois , in 1962 and River Oaks Center in Calumet City, Illinois , in 1966. Marshall Field's even expanded further in the Pacific Northwest , acquiring The Crescent department store in Spokane, Washington , in 1962 and in 1970, moved east with

7656-400: The direction of Burnham associate Charles B. Atwood in August 1893, towards the end of the Exposition. In 1897, the old 1879 store was rebuilt and had two additional floors added, while the first of Marshall Field's iconic landmark Great Clocks was installed at the corner of State and Washington Streets on November 26. In 1901, Marshall Field & Company, previously a private partnership,

7772-500: The district cooling system now known as Thermal Chicago, thus contributing to the national effort to reduce the discharge of ozone-damaging CFCs . In 2006, MMPI joined Clean Air Counts, a voluntary initiative to reduce smog forming pollutants and energy consumption in the Chicago area. Part of the campaign strategies included utilizing only low VOC cleaning products, paints and building materials, as well as energy efficient lighting and alternative workplace transportation options. To date,

7888-404: The earlier modernization campaign, were restored with clear glass to showcase merchants' wares. New main and corner entrances were added to the rear facade, and the loading dock that occupied the north portion of the first floor of the river level was removed in order to use the bottom deck of North Bank Drive. Improvements to the lobby included restoration of the original glass curtain wall over

8004-465: The earliest steel-framed commercial buildings built and still standing in the U.S. along with the Equitable Building in Baltimore ) was leased to the later famous nationwide mail-order firm Sears, Roebuck & Company . In 1887, the landmark seven-story Henry Hobson Richardson -designed, (1838–1886), Romanesque-styled , Marshall Field's Wholesale Store opened on Franklin Street between Quincy and Adams (razed c.1930). Though little remembered today,

8120-400: The early and middle decades of the 20th century, many women migrated into the labor force often becoming adrift in a new city with new opportunities. Many of these women lived apart from family and relatives, were young and single and came from varied backgrounds and ethnicities. This subculture of women was greatly affected by wages and opportunities offered through Marshall Field's. However,

8236-447: The entire block between East 58th and 59th streets and Lexington and Third Avenues in Manhattan . In 1988, they each raised their stakes to 27% of the company, but Trump pledged his interest as collateral for a personal loan from Citicorp and in 1991, Trump was forced to turn over his holdings to Citibank. In 1992, Roth and Alexander's creditors forced Alexander's into bankruptcy. Alexander's emerged from bankruptcy in 1993 as

8352-449: The entrance, shop fronts, and reception desk using terrazzo floors and wall sconces influenced by the original design. The project was completed in 1991. In 2007, the building received LEED for Existing Buildings Silver recognition. The Merchandise Mart was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White to be a "city within a city". Second only to Holabird & Root in Chicago art deco architecture,

8468-474: The firm had a long-standing relationship with the Field family. Started in 1928, completed in 1931, and built in the same art deco style as the Chicago Board of Trade Building , its cost was reported as both $ 32 million and $ 38 million. The building was the largest in the world in terms of floorspace, but was surpassed by the Pentagon in 1943, and now stands forty-fourth on the list of largest buildings in

8584-570: The first shovels of dirt at groundbreaking on August 16, 1928, along with architect Ernest Graham. General contractor John W. Griffiths & Sons brought building construction into the machine age through the use of techniques "ordinarily used in the construction of big dams." Cement arriving by boat was lifted by compressed air to bins 75 feet (20 m) above the ground, with gravel and sand delivered by railroad cars to conveyor belts and transfer elevators. Giant mixers provided wet concrete to skip hoists in vertical towers that were extended as

8700-526: The floor space was leased to outside vendors in a manner similar to Selfridge's in London (Selfridge's was founded by former Field's executive Harry Selfridge, who based his business model on Marshall Field's; likewise, the Selfridge's building in London was based on the architecture of the Marshall Field's store). Among the "firsts" by Marshall Field's was the concept of the department store tea room . In

8816-580: The focus shifted to promoting the State Street location in 2007. The Marshall Field and Company Building at State and Washington Streets in Chicago was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and is part of the Loop Retail National Historic District. The building was designated a Chicago Landmark on November 1, 2005. With approximately two million square feet of available floor space,

8932-419: The individual floor space. Excepting the corridors, elevator halls, and exhibition space on the fourth floor, the 5 acres (20,000 m) of each upper floor was "raw space" with concrete floors. Jules Guerin 's frieze of 17 murals is the primary feature of the lobby and graphically illustrate commerce throughout the world, including the countries of origin for items sold in the building. The murals depict

9048-471: The industries and products, the primary mode of transportation and the architecture of 14 countries. Drawing on years as a stage set designer, Guerin executed the murals in red with gold leaf using techniques producing distinct image layers in successive planes. In a panel representing Italy , Venetian glassware appears in the foreground with fishing boats moored on the Grand Canal and the facade of

9164-459: The last time in April 1879. In January 1881, Field, with the support of his junior partners, bought out Levi Z. Leiter , renaming the business "Marshall Field & Company" . As Palmer had before, Leiter retired to tend his significant real estate investments, which included commissioning a department store, Second Leiter Building in 1891 at State Street and Van Buren to house Siegel, Cooper & Company . In 1932, this building (known as one of

9280-429: The location was the only place where the task could be completed in one week. Select showrooms are open only to wholesalers, with others accessible to the general public. Unlike stores with traditional shelf and rack displays, entire usable rooms are created, providing consumers an opportunity to compare form and function between applications and manufacturers. A portion of the stores offer items for purchase singly or as

9396-490: The north. The Kinzie Chophouse, popular with politicians and celebrities, stands on the northwest corner of Wells and Kinzie, across from the Merchandise Mart. The Chicago Varnish Company Building , listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now housing Harry Caray 's restaurant, is located east on Kinzie Street. Across the street to the east is 325 N. Wells Street, home to The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and DIRTT Environmental Solutions. The Mart

9512-399: The one-year anniversary, September 9, 2007. Dozens attended "Field's Fans" rallies each anniversary from 2008 to 2012. Many Chicagoans felt betrayed by Macy's takeover of Marshall Field’s when the company began to change its aesthetics and customer service standards, and demoted many Chicago-based brands. In December 2006, Macy's reported 30% slower sales in former Marshall Field's stores;

9628-421: The other wholesale dry goods merchants in town. In 1887, Harry Gordon Selfridge was appointed to lead the retail store and headed it as it evolved into a modern department store . That same year, Field personally obtained Leiter's remaining interest in the 1879 Singer building and in 1888 started buying the buildings adjoining his for additional floor space. Marshall Field also had a child at this time. In 1892,

9744-444: The partnership in 1867 to focus on his own growing real-estate interests on one of the burgeoning city's important thoroughfares, State Street . His brother, Milton Palmer, left at this time as well. The store was renamed Field, Leiter & Company , sometimes referred to as "Field & Leiter". The buyout, however, did not bring an end to Potter Palmer's association with the firm. In 1868, Palmer convinced Field and Leiter to lease

9860-559: The partnership with Farwell when presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. Potter Palmer , plagued by ailing health, was looking to dispose of his thriving business, so on January 4, 1865, Field and Leiter entered into partnership with him and his brother Milton Palmer. So the firm of P. Palmer & Company became Field, Palmer, Leiter & Company , with Palmer financing much of their initial capital as well as his own contribution. After Field and Leiter's immediate success enabled them to pay him back, Palmer withdrew two years later from

9976-513: The previously unoccupied tower, the additional 11,500 square feet (1,070 m) provided room for an organ chamber, two echo rooms, and a total of 11 studios. A staff of more than 300 produced up to 1,700 programs each month, including Amos 'n' Andy . Hugh Downs contributed to the Burr Tillstrom children's show Kukla, Fran and Ollie from the NBC studios after the network picked up

10092-639: The program from WBKB . The Captain Midnight radio program was broadcast from the Mart from 1942 until 1945. WMAQ and WMAQ-TV moved to the NBC Tower in 1989, though NBC sold WMAQ radio to Westinghouse Broadcasting two years earlier). WMAQ's former sister FM station, now WKQX , stayed at the Merchandise Mart until 2016, when it moved to NBC Tower itself.. The nineteenth floor is currently vacant. On January 7, 1949, NBC station WNBQ commercially debuted its television broadcast schedule on channel 5, with

10208-725: The purchase of Halle Brothers Co. , a leading department store in Cleveland , Ohio . Field's also continued to expand its hometown base in Illinois, opening a store at Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg in 1971. CherryVale Mall in Rockford and Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills followed in 1973, and stores at Water Tower Place in Chicago and Fox Valley Mall in Aurora opened in 1975. The suburban expansion continued in 1976 with

10324-455: The same angle as Franklin Street, from southeast to northwest along Orleans Street. A heritage of lighting the structure finds the central and corner towers, along with the columns between each window on the setbacks, bathed nightly in an upwardly focused white light. Tradition dictates annual changes to green in mid-March for St. Patrick's Day and orange during the fall months around Halloween and Thanksgiving . Prominent events have found

10440-400: The store's gaslights. The men worked on by candlelight and the glow from the approaching flames. The employees got enough steam up to operate the store's powerful pumps in the basement, and volunteers went to the roof and used the store's fire hoses to wet down the roof and the wall on the side of the oncoming fire. Early in the following morning however, the city's waterworks burned, thus ending

10556-899: The structure was renovated and reopened in 1998 as a replacement for Nordstrom's own Seattle parent store. BATUS closed its Gimbels division in 1986 and transferred five former Gimbels locations in Wisconsin to its Marshall Field's division: downtown Milwaukee, Northridge Mall and Southridge Mall in Milwaukee, Hilldale Shopping Center in Madison and in downtown Appleton . The former Gimbels Northridge and Southridge locations were retained by Field's for only three years; due to poor performance, they were sold in 1989 to H.C. Prange Co. of Sheboygan. The Evanston and Oak Park stores were closed in 1986, their 1929 buildings deemed out of date and too costly to operate. A major restoration and renovation of

10672-492: The structures between the 1879 building on State Street and Wabash Avenue to the east were demolished and the famous influential architect Daniel H. Burnham and his firm D.H. Burnham & Company was commissioned to erect a new building in anticipation of the influx of visitors from the World's Columbian Exposition scheduled for 1893. The nine-story "Annex" at the northwest corner of Wabash and Washington Streets has opened under

10788-504: The suburbs, including opening a store in 1950 in partnership with pioneering suburban developer Philip M. Klutznick (a famous Jewish leader and later U.S. Secretary of Commerce ) at his new Park Forest Plaza , which utilized revolutionary new concepts in land use and architecture. In 1956, Klutznick and Field's jointly opened Old Orchard Shopping Center in Skokie, Illinois , a center Klutznick developed on land that Field's already owned;

10904-466: The surrounding neighborhood, and saving $ 200,000 in electricity costs in the first year. In 1990, the Mart Center began using Green Seal -approved green cleaning products and the next year implemented a recycling program, which today includes all forms of paper products, glass, light bulbs, batteries, aluminum and construction materials. In 1996, the Mart Center became one of the first major property owners in downtown Chicago to enter into an agreement with

11020-532: The title of "world's largest department store" over John Wanamaker & Co. in Philadelphia and R.H. Macy & Co. in New York . In 1912, the 16-story Trude Building at the southwest corner of Wabash and Randolph was acquired and demolished, an act that was considered to be one of the first demolitions, if not the first, of a high-rise skyscraper of those just recently being built. In its place rose

11136-467: The tower. Motorola Mobility moved its headquarters to the Merchandise Mart in 2014. Since 1969, the Merchandise Mart has been home to the annual National Exposition of Contract Furnishings, known as NeoCon. With over 1,000 exhibitors of contract and commercial furnishings, and 50,000 attendees, it is the largest trade show of its kind in North America. Since 2006 the Merchandise Mart has hosted

11252-586: The wages of the female employees were not representative of their role in the company and, therefore, became the subject of the 1913 Illinois Senate Investigation. Women were paid very low wages, the average being $ 5 to $ 8 per week. The "testimony at an Illinois Senate investigation in 1913 from spokesmen for the Illinois Manufacturers' Association ; banks; Sears, Roebuck ; and Marshall Field's revealed that most major employers paid women workers as low as $ 2.75 (~$ 85.00 in 2023)." Even in 1913, that

11368-565: The water supply and making further efforts useless. The last employee had scarcely exited the building when it burst into flames, shooting fire from every window. The store burned to the ground. However, as a result of the employees' herculean efforts, so much merchandise was saved that the store was able to reopen in only a few weeks (the Wholesale Department on October 28, and the Retail Department on November 6) in

11484-465: The wholesale division sold merchandise in bulk to smaller merchants throughout the central and western United States and at that time did six times the sales volume of the local retail store. Chicago's location at the nexus of the country's railroads and Great Lakes shipping made it the center of the dry goods wholesaling business by the 1870s, with Field's former partner from before the war, John V. Farwell, Sr. , (1825–1908), being his largest rival. It

11600-428: The windows, and the building's chamfered corners, minimal setbacks, and corner pavilions disguise the edges of the mass and visually reduce bulk. The south corner pavilions are of greater height than the north corner pavilions. The building is open at the pedestrian level with bronzed framed display windows , typical of a department store, on the south, west and east boundaries. The 25-story central tower ascends with

11716-459: The world . Once the largest commercial space in the world, New Century Global Center in China is now recognized by Guinness World Records as holding the record. Designer Alfred Shaw integrated art deco stylings with influences from three building types—the warehouse , the department store and the skyscraper . A warehouse block stands as the 18-story bulk of the building. Ribbon piers define

11832-451: The world's largest department store, its many restaurants and separate men's and women's lounges becoming an important social destination for upscale Chicago. Shedd continued to expand Field's wholesale business and grew its manufacturing business, buying textile mills in the South in 1911 (see Cannon Mills Company ) as well as overseeing the purchase of the Marshall Field Trust's interest in

11948-488: Was John Ott 's "How Does Your Garden Grow?", featuring the use of time-lapse color film. Although WMAQ-TV has since moved to NBC Tower about a mile away, and for the most part the 19th floor of the Mart has been turned into office space, one former tenant (Bankers Life and Trust Company) maintained a remnant of the original studios as their video and multimedia department. Marshall Field %26 Co. Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's )

12064-466: Was an upscale department store in Chicago , Illinois . Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc , acquired it in 2005. Its founder, Marshall Field , was a pioneering retail magnate. The company's flagship Marshall Field and Company Building on State Street in the Chicago Loop is a National Landmark for its importance in the history of retail. It

12180-598: Was constructed over the south for vehicle use. In 1977, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the Chicago Apparel Center , on the west side of Orleans Street, which increased the Merchandise Mart’s total floor space to 6.2 million square feet (580,000 m). Plazas, esplanades , and overlooks employed the waterfront location for pedestrian use. In 1988, Helmut Jahn designed an enclosed pedestrian walking bridge over Orleans Street connecting

12296-528: Was expanded from five nights a week to every night. Displays begin 15 minutes after sunset and loop for two hours. Obscura Digital studio initially installed 34 projectors to allow the rotating roster of artists to display their work. Dominating the skyline in the south end of the Near North Side , the Mart lies just south of the gallery district on the southern terminus of Franklin Street. Eateries and nightclubs abound on Hubbard Street one block to

12412-555: Was greatly reduced and Field's reduced its space in the Mart from four floors to one and half. The Mart continued to display the latest trends in home furnishings within the showrooms and trade shows. The company recovered late in the decade, but did not return to all previously occupied space. In 1942, L. L. Skaggs formed a partnership with three other men and named the partnership the Owners Service Company, hence Osco . The headquarters moved from Waterloo, Iowa, to

12528-469: Was incorporated. Spurred on by Selfridge, Marshall Field razed the three buildings north of it, which had been occupied since 1888, as well as the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan -designed 1879 Central Music Hall at the southeast corner of State and Randolph Streets in 1901. In their place rose a massive, twelve-story building fronting State Street in 1902, including a grand new entrance. In 1906,

12644-627: Was not a living wage. During the hearing, Marshall Field's revealed that it could double the women's salaries but refused to do so. Furthermore, women faced more mistreatment within the company such as sex segregation, which limited their mobility within the company. James Simpson was appointed president following Shedd's retirement. Though considered to have favored the declining wholesale division, he did expand its retail operations, first buying A. M. Rothschild & Co. at State Street and Jackson Boulevard in December 1923, which Field's operated as

12760-489: Was officially branded Macy's on State Street in 2006, when it became one of Macy's flagship stores . Marshall Field & Company traces its antecedents to a dry goods store opened at 137 Lake Street in Chicago , Illinois , in 1852 by Potter Palmer , eponymously named P. Palmer & Company. In 1856, 21-year-old Marshall Field moved to the booming midwestern city of Chicago on the southwest shores of Lake Michigan from Pittsfield, Massachusetts and found work at

12876-432: Was out of the path of the fire. The Company's drivers and teams were ordered out of the barns. Horace B. Parker, a young salesman, rushed to the store's basement, broke up boxes, and built a fire in the furnace boiler so that the steam-powered elevators could be operated. These employees worked feverishly through the night to remove vital records and valuable goods to safety. At one point, the gas tank exploded, which put out

12992-625: Was outbid by $ 30 million by Vornado. However, Vornado balked over lease terms and possible tax liabilities. Silverstein signed a lease for the World Trade Center in April 2001, 5 months before the September 11 attacks . In 2001, the company acquired Charles E. Smith Commercial Realty, owner of a portfolio of assets primarily in Arlington, Virginia , in a $ 1.58 billion transaction. Robert H. Smith and Robert P. Kogod were added to

13108-406: Was purchased in 1945 or 1946 by the Kennedy family through Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI), and managed by Sargent Shriver . Kennedy's purchase price was reported to be either $ 12.5 or $ 13 million, and it is said that his initial capital was $ 1 million, though records say his original mortgage was $ 12.5 million, roughly half of what it had cost to construct the complex. E. Stanley Klein,

13224-537: Was the first store to offer revolving credit and the first department store to use escalators . Marshall Field's book department in the State Street store was legendary; it pioneered the concept of the " book signing ." Moreover, every year at Christmas, Marshall Field's downtown store windows were filled with animated displays as part of the downtown shopping district display; the "theme" window displays became famous for their ingenuity and beauty, and visiting

13340-406: Was the largest building in the world. The 1887 Wholesale Store designed by Richardson at Franklin between Quincy and Adams Streets was closed and demolished at this time. But the new building, faced with a change in retail distribution and wholesale patterns in addition to the deepening " Great Depression ", could not save Field's wholesale division. Simpson left the Company, and James O. McKinsey ,

13456-418: Was the scale of the profits generated by the John G. Shedd -led wholesale division during this time that made Marshall Field the richest man in Chicago and one of the richest in the country. Following the departure of Leiter, the retail store grew in importance. Though it remained a fraction of the size of the wholesale division, its opulent building and luxurious merchandise differentiated Marshall Field from

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