Description

Normal price is $50.00, discounted price for March is $35.00.

Designed by Martin Roche of Holabird and Roche, this 1912 Romanesque-inspired 16-story, steel frame building at 104 S. Michigan Avenue is clad in a combination of terracotta and granite. It was designed to harmonize with the firm’s earlier Neo Gothic University Club, located to the north across Monroe Street. The Monroe Building’s banded multi-toned terra cotta exterior, with its decorative pilasters and overhangs, enhance the building's rich façade. The gabled roof and dormers of green Spanish tiles complete the Monroe Building’s unique exterior, which hints at the richly tiled lobby, one of the finest in the city.

Purchased in 2005 by Tawani Enterprises, the Monroe Building has been lovingly restored, updated, and reborn. This book chronicles the history of the building, from its conception through its restoration. It presents a history of Chicago architecture through the lens of one building and details just how a Chicago Masterpiece was rediscovered.

(Authors: Richard Cahan and Michael Williams; Photographs by Alexander Vertikoff - Publication 2014)