File:Chicago (ILL) Historic Michigan Boulevard District " Santa Fe building " 1903 & " Metropolitan Tower " 1924 (4825792307).jpg

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The Metropolitan Tower : 1924 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Tower_(Chicago)" rel="nofollow">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Tower_%28Chicago%29</a>

owned by Metropolitan Properties of Chicago, is a skyscraper located at 310 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago's East Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District in the Loop community area in Cook County, and is now being renovated as a condominium complex with 242 units. Residences range in size from 1,200 square feet (110 m2) to 4,000 square feet (370 m2). Penthouses feature 360 degree city views and private elevators.[3] Prices run from $300,000 for a 762 square feet (70.8 m2) one-bedroom unit to $1.365 million for a 1,932 square feet (179.5 m2) three-bedroom.[4] The Metropolitan Tower is also home for a branch of Chase Bank. Designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, the Metropolitan Tower was named the Straus Building when completed in 1924. Though it was the first building in Chicago with 30 or more floors, it was never officially designated Chicago's tallest building since the Chicago Temple Building, also completed in 1924, is taller by 92 feet (28 m) but has seven fewer floors.The Straus Building and the Chicago Temple Building were the first to take advantage of the 1923 zoning ordinance; before then, no building in Chicago could be taller than 260 feet (79 m). The Metropolitan Tower was at one time called the Continental National Insurance Company Building (later Continental Center and from 1980 to 2004 it was called the Britannica Building when that company was its tenant.

SANTA FE Building ( Railway Exchange Buiolding ) 1903

The Santa Fe Building, also known as Railway Exchange Building, is a 17-story office building in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District of the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It was designed by Frederick P. Dinkelberg of D. H. Burnham & Company in the Chicago style. Dinkelberg was also the designer of the Flatiron Building in New York City. The building is recognizable by the large "Santa Fe" logo on the roof, which is visible from Grant Park across Michigan Ave and from Lake Michigan. It is also notable for the round, porthole-like windows along the cornice. The center of the building features a lightwell, which was covered with a skylight in the 1980s.

Architecture : The formal entrance to the building is located on Jackson Boulevard, which in 1904 was a more important street than Michigan Avenue. The impressive entrance is believed to have been required by Daniel Burnham, head of the architectural firm and the building's main stockholder. The firm moved its offices to the fourteenth floor, and Burnham's descendants continued ownership in the building until 1952. The building is organized as a classicization of John Wellborn Root's design of the Rookery. A street level two-story enclosed court designed in a symmetrical Beaux-Arts style was surmounted by an open lightwell which was surrounded by a ring of offices. By the formal arched entrance on Jackson Boulevard, a large staircase led to shops and a second-floor balcony. White-glazed terra-cotta sheaths the exterior façade and interior court and the lightwell is lined with white-glazed brick. Classical designs were used for the ornamental dentils, balusters, and column capitals. The building is completely steel-framed. The building is significant as a historic site because Daniel Burnham and his staff made the 1909 Plan of Chicago in a penthouse on the northeast corner of the roof.

The Santa Fe Building was originally built as a railway exchange for the Santa Fe railway. Burnham & Company had offices on the 14th floor. Though the firm's successor, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, has moved, a number of architectural organizations still practice there, including the Chicago Architecture Foundation, VOA Associates, Harding Partners, and the Chicago offices of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.