Lasalle Street Canyon With Chicago Board Of Trade Building At The South Side II - Chicago Illinois

Silvio Ligutti

#880 of 1340

Lasalle Street Canyon With Chicago Board Of Trade Building At The South Side II - Chicago Illinois Photograph

Silvio Ligutti

Houston, TX

$13.00

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Title

Lasalle Street Canyon With Chicago Board Of Trade Building At The South Side II - Chicago Illinois

Artist

Silvio Ligutti

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

One early summer morning I stood at the Near North Side area looking south into the Loop and the LaSalle Street Canyon, hoping to the "L" train at full speed to capture its movement on a long exposure. The statue of Ceres, ever watchful, stands at the top of the Chicago Board of Trade Building.

LaSalle "Canyon"

The stretch of LaSalle Street and its adjacent buildings in the Loop is recognized as the West Loop LaSalle Street Historic District. The south end of LaSalle Street terminates at the art-deco Chicago Board of Trade Building, a Chicago Landmark and National Historic Landmark. The LaSalle Street Station commuter terminal is located directly south of the Board of Trade. An art deco skyscraper at 135 S. LaSalle and a modern skyscraper 190 S. LaSalle line the street. One North LaSalle, the former Field Building, Chicago City Hall and the James R. Thompson Center are located within the Loop on LaSalle Street.

The street was nicknamed "The Canyon" due to the tall, steep buildings that lie on both ends of the relatively narrow street, with the Chicago Board of Trade Building as the abrupt end of the apparent box canyon.

The Rookery Building is a historic landmark located at 219 South Lasalle Street. Completed by John Wellborn Root and Daniel Burnham of Burnham and Root in 1888, it is considered one of their masterpiece buildings. It measures 181 feet (55 m), is twelve stories tall and is one of the oldest standing high-rises in Chicago. It has a unique style with exterior load-bearing walls and an interior steel frame.

LaSalle was one of three streets in Chicago to have a tunnel under the Chicago River, the other two being W. Washington St. and W. Van Buren St. Constructed in 1869-71, the 2000 foot long tunnel alleviated interruptions from bridge openings due to heavy river traffic and served as an escape route during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Originally open to only pedestrians and private vehicles, the LaSalle tunnel was turned over to cable car companies in the 1880s, since it was impossible for cable car systems to span the movable bridges. Closed in 1906, the tunnel was deepened and reopened to electric street car traffic in 1911-12. The tunnel was closed permanently in 1939 to make way for subway construction.

Chicago Board of Trade Building:

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It stands at 141 W. Jackson Boulevard at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon, in the Loop community area in Cook County. Built in 1930 and first designated a Chicago Landmark on May 4, 1977, the building was listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 16, 1978. Originally built for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it is now the primary trading venue for the derivatives exchange, the CME Group, formed in 2007 by the merger of the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.[5] In 2012, the CME Group sold the CBOT Building to a consortium of real estate investors, including GlenStar Properties LLC and USAA Real Estate Company.
The 141 W. Jackson address hosted the former tallest building in Chicago designed by William W. Boyington before the current Holabird & Root structure, which held the same title for over 35 years until being surpassed in 1965 by the Richard J. Daley Center. The current structure is known for its art deco architecture, sculptures and large-scale stone carving, as well as large trading floors. A three-story art deco statue of Ceres, goddess of agriculture (particularly grain), caps the building. The building is a popular sightseeing attraction and location for shooting movies, and its owners and management have won awards for efforts to preserve the building and for office management.