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By Tom Carmichael, Class of 2007, and Diane Wagner, Class of 2005

When CAC, then CAF, was located on South Michigan Avenue, a number of our tours walked past a building “hidden in plain sight” that Preservation Chicago has added to its 2022 “Chicago 7 Most Endangered.” It’s the long-empty Century Building on the southwest corner of State and Adams. Congress is considering a bill that would provide $54 million to demolish both the Century Building and its near neighbor the Consumers Building. The Federal Government bought the two as a security buffer for the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. A multi-million dollar proposal by CA Ventures to repurpose the buildings fell through in 2019 due to security concerns voiced by justices working in the Dirksen Building. Due to their deteriorated condition and the government’s reluctance to allow them to be redeveloped, time may be running out for these two examples of early 20^th century Chicago. While some of the terminology has changed since 2011 when the short article below first appeared in Docent News, its sentiments still ring true. 

Holabird and Roche are honored names in Chicago’s architectural history. The Marquette, Monadnock, the Gage buildings and others are featured on CAF tours; the public is well-acquainted with these handsome structures and the beauty their profiles add to the streets of our city.

Yet hiding in plain sight, on the southwest corner of Adams and State streets, is another Holabird and Roche building. A passerby might notice the arresting metal canopy with its floral black and white design, the deteriorating terra cotta cladding, and dismiss the structure as insignificant. But raise your eyes and look more carefully at the neo-Manueline decoration, a style of ornamentation that replicates that of late Portuguese Gothic buildings. This is yet another example of  the Chicago School style for which the firm of Holabird and Roche was well known.

This 16-storoy tower was built by the Buck & Rayner Drug Store Company. One of their stores was on the ground level, with upper floor offices leased to physicians and dentists. Called the Twentieth Century Building, the name was shortened to the Century by the late 1930s.

Purchased by Home Federal Savings and Loan, a banking floor was installed in the old drug store space with offices on the floors above. The story of this building’s design and use is similar to what CAF docents tell tour groups about the Chicago and Reliance Buildings. In 2000 the city government planned to redevelop the building into a boutique hotel like the Reliance Building. The plan was cancelled because of severe deterioration on the terra cotta exterior.

Currently, the function of this building is very different from the intention of its developer and designer. To the west of the Century Building is the Dirksen Courthouse, one of the three structures that comprise Federal Plaza. Following 9/11, the federal government wanted to do everything possible to ensure the safety of government property and purchased adjacent buildings in 2003. Eventually, the Century became government property through eminent domain.

Since its form does not follow its present function, it’s a question as to how much longer the 20^th structure will survive into the 21^st century. But for now, it’s still standing, in glorious, well-worn neo-Manueline splendor. So, raise your eyes as you pass by, and give a salute to this weary yet still noble building.

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