Chicago Architecture Info

Chicago Board of Trade

Address
141 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Basic Information
Designed by Holabird & Root
Cost $22,000,000
Type Skyscraper
Floors: 45
Maximum height 605 feet/182 meters
Neighborhood: The Loop
More Information
  • Rentable floor space: 1,300,000
  • The sculpture of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agruiculture, was executed by John Storrs.
  • The building is clad with gray limestone.
  • This is the home of WCIU Television (channel 26).
  • At the time of its completion, this was the tallest building in Chicago. It was surpassed in 1965 by the Chicago Civic Center (now the Daley Center).
  • Although the "Chicago Board of Trade" no longer exists, its successor, The CME Group has chosen to keep the building's historic name.
  • At one time there were more than 2,700 miles of communications cables beneath the trading floor.
  • The statue of Ceres at the top of the building is 30 feet tall and weighs 6,500 pounds.
  • 1882: Construction began on the first Chicago Board of Trade Building at this location.
  • 1894: A spectator in the gallery began shooting into the trading floor. Three people were shot.
  • August, 1911: The CBOT filed for a permit with the City of Chicago to build a new 22-story building 200 feet tall. This was done to get around a city ordinance scheduled to go into effect September 1, 1911 restricting the height of buildings in the city to under 200 feet.
  • October 26, 1921: CBOT president Joseph P. Griffin announces that the organization will build a new 23-story building, expected to cost $6,000,000.
  • January 29, 1927: The CBOT filed plans for a 43-story tower with the City of Chicago.
  • 1929: The CBOT building was demolished
  • 1929: Construction began on the new CBOT building.
  • June 9, 1930: This building opened to the public for an hour from 9am to 10am before trading began for the first time at 10am when President Hoover in Washington pressed a button signaling the start of the trading day.
  • May 4. 1977: This building was named a city of Chicgao landmark.
  • June 2, 1978: This building was named a National Historic Landmark.
  • June 16, 1978: This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
  • 1980-1983: The building was expanded with a 24-story addition by Murphy/Jahn; Shaw & Associated; and Swanke, Hayden, Connell Associates Architects. It added 581,000 square feet of space at a cost of $45,000,000.
  • March 18, 1985: More than a dozen people were hurt when a fire broke out in this building.
  • 1997: Another addition was added to this building by Fujikawa Johnson Architects.
  • 2005: An interior renovation project began.
  • 2006: The interior renovation project was completed.