Old Dearborn Bank Building

Address: 203 N. Wabash Ave. Year Built: 1928 Architect: Rapp & Rapp Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: June 4, 2003

This brick-clad skyscraper is one of the Loop's most unusual, with its fantastical terra-cotta ornament depicting both medieval and mythological figures. The work of the renowned theater architects Rapp and Rapp who also designed the Chicago and Uptown Theaters, the Old Dearborn Bank Building is one of only two buildings by the firm designed solely as offices. The design of the building successfully blends the overall straight-forward form of Chicago Commercial skyscrapers with the exotic ornament more typical of movie "palaces" of the 1920s.