Marshall Field Wholesale Store
Name of Building
Marshall Field Wholesale Store
Town or City, Country where the building was originally established
Chicago, Illinois
Date the building was designed and/or first built
Begun: 1885
Completed: 1887
Demolished 1930
Name of Architect, Builder, or Primary Patron Responsible
Henry Hobson Richardson
Geo-Location
41.88365288135903, -87.62737120654867
Materials
stone, glass
Size and/or Scale of Building
500,000 square ft.
Architectural Type
Commercial
Formal Style
Richardsonian Romanesque
Building Description
This building is completely quadratic in its form. It is a very basic box in its morphology. With this though, the structure is huge with it coming in at 500,00 sq ft, in addition it sports seven stories, from basement to top floor, making it easily one of Richardson’s most impressive works. Similar to the Cincinnati chamber of commerce, this building was also built on the corner of a block, though it appears the main entrance is placed along the left side of the building from this vantage point. Perhaps one of the things highlighted so far in these studies, is the placements of these structures in the Midwest. The materials used for the building make the same appearance found in other buildings of this style. Granite for the exterior, round arches(though here it is primarily on the window exterior where these are found) and the glass material for windows. The interior is very simplistic, with its shape being quadratic, the floors follow a simple pattern, which one can assume, the use of stairs made it so that one may go from one floor to the next. One thing interesting about this structure is that Richardson passed away during the construction of this building, and during the height of his movement, making way for other architects to continue carrying the torch for the architectural movement!
Image source
Image 1: Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Image 2: Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Image 3: Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Image 4: Image 1: Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Image 5: Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sketch 1: Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Student First and Last Name
Julian Forster
Bibliographic references for the item
Ochsner, J. K. (1982) H.H. Richardson, complete architectural works. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Citation
Henry Hobson Richardson, “Marshall Field Wholesale Store,” World Architecture, accessed June 28, 2026, https://worldarchitecture.artinterp2.org/items/show/250.
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