Brooks Building

Address: 223 W. Jackson Blvd. Year Built: 1909 - 1910 Architect: Holabird & Roche Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: January 14, 1997

A remarkably intact example of a Chicago School-style structure, which was an architectural movement of international importance that developed here between the 1880s and the early 1900s. The building was commissioned by Boston developers Peter and Shepard Brooks, who built many of Chicago's most innovative structures. It was designed by Holabird & Roche, who were instrumental in the so-called Chicago School of architecture. The building, which is notable for its finely detailed orange-brown and green colored terra cotta ornament, large windows, and minimal wall surfaces, epitomizes the early steel-framed skyscraper--a type of structure that Chicago is world renown for having helped create.