Old Dearborn Bank Building

Click for Larger View     Address: 203 N. Wabash Ave.
Year Built: 1928
Architect: C. W. & George L. Rapp
Date Designated a Chicago Landmark:
June 4, 2003

Click for Larger View 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.

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Art Deco
The Loop
Terra Cotta
 
1.Exterior view, photo © 2002 Mark Ballogg @ Steinkamp/Ballogg, Chicago
2.Detail, photo by Terry Tatum, 2003
3.Detail, photo by Jean Follett, 2002
4.Detail, photo by Terry Tatum, 2003