The Field Building, also known as the LaSalle National Bank Building and Bank of America Building is an

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

office building at 135 South

LaSalle Street LaSalle Street is a major north-south street in Chicago named for Robert de La Salle, a 17th century French explorer of the Illinois Country. The portion that runs through the Chicago Loop is considered to be Chicago's financial district. Sout ...

in the

Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...

community area of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The building was designated a

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, archite ...

February 9, 1994.

History and description

The construction of the Field Building was completed 1934 as a 45-story

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

on the site bounded by South Clark Street, South LaSalle Street and West Adams Street. The architect was the firm of

Graham, Anderson, Probst & White Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W) was a Chicago architectural firm that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through Daniel Burnham's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham, and Burnh ...

. It is considered the last major office building erected in Chicago prior to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

construction hiatus which ended with the building of

One Prudential Plaza One Prudential Plaza (formerly known as the Prudential Building) is a 41-story structure in Chicago completed in 1955 as the headquarters for Prudential's Mid-America company. It was the first skyscraper built in Chicago since the Great Depr ...

in 1955. Many of the latest innovations such as high-speed elevators and air conditioning were incorporated into the building's design. The lobby features a multi-level arcade between LaSalle and Clark Streets allowing pedestrians to walk between the two streets and access the retail space without exiting the building. The elevator indicator panel and mailbox in the lobby are in an integrated design which resembles the building's exterior shape. The building rises from a four-story base that covers the entire site. The exterior of the first story is faced in polished black granite. Windows are framed with polished aluminum or

monel metal Monel is a group of alloys of nickel (from 52 to 67%) and copper, with small amounts of iron, manganese, carbon, and silicon. Monel is not a cupronickel alloy because it has less than 60% copper. Stronger than pure nickel, Monel alloys are res ...

and have black and polished aluminum

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

panels. The entrances on the east and west facades rise the entire height of the base and are also framed in black granite. Five pilasters faced in white

Yule marble Yule Marble is a marble of metamorphosed Leadville Limestone found only in the Yule Creek Valley, in the West Elk Mountains of Colorado, southeast of the town of Marble, Colorado.Marble Quadrangle, Colorado; USGS 7.5-minute series topograp ...

separate the bays containing revolving doors that provide access to the lobby. The upper stories are sheathed in limestone with windows grouped vertically and recessed to emphasize the building's height. The 45-story rectangular tower is centered on the base and buttressed by a shorter 22-story tower at each of its four corners. Several buildings occupied this site until construction commenced in 1931. The world's first skyscraper, the

Home Insurance Building The Home Insurance Building was a skyscraper that stood in Chicago from 1885 to 1931. Originally ten stories and tall, it was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1884 and completed the next year. Two floors were added in 1891, bringing its ...

(1885-1931), occupied the western portion facing LaSalle and Adams Streets. On December 7, 2004, a fire broke out on the 29th floor that also spread to the 30th floor; 25 people were injured.

Utilization

Much of the building's rentable area was occupied by the

LaSalle Bank LaSalle Bank Corporation was the holding company for LaSalle Bank N.A. and LaSalle Bank Midwest N.A. (formerly Standard Federal Bank). With US$116 billion in assets, it was headquartered at 135 South LaSalle Street in Chicago, Illinois. LaSa ...

, with the remainder occupied by various private tenants. In 2007, LaSalle Bank was sold by its European owner

ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

and the building's name changed to the Bank of America Building. In August 2008, the Bank sold the building to AmTrust but continues to occupy of the in the building under a lease that runs through 2020. In April 2017, the bank announced it would relocate its offices to a new tower under development at 110 North Wacker. Mechanical spaces are located at the 25th and 45th floor levels. The 43rd and 44th floors house executive dining rooms for use by the bank and selected other tenants, with a cafeteria located on the concourse level. The west side of the ground floor is utilized by Bank of America for retail banking, with the east side rented to merchants. The rest of the floors consist of typical office space. As was customary in the 1930s, the building does not have a 13th floor.

References

;Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Skyscraper office buildings in Chicago Office buildings completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Illinois Chicago Landmarks

History and description

Utilization

See also

References

External links