revisiting lumber exchange building's largely forgotten subterranean open-faced electric switch board

images (taken nearly a decade ago) of the original open-ended switch board (removed from service during the 1940s) housed in the basement of the lumber exchange (later known as the roanoke building). the interconnected slate panels, once illuminated by i.p. frinke mirrored reflectors, are adorned with copper "jack-knife" switches, glass-encased volt and watthour meters and signage. 

the roanoke building and tower, built as the lumber exchange building, sits on the site of a former roanoke building that once served the national weather service. additionally, it incorporates the lands of the former desoto building and former farewell hall. prior to the erection of the first roanoke building, a four-story building designed by t.v. widskier stood there until the great chicago fire of 1871. the original roanoke building stood from 1872–1912 as a seven-story building on spread foundations. it was designed by dixon & hamilton and had a length of 136 feet along south lasalle street and a width of 66 feet along west madison street. from june 8, 1873 to january 1, 1887 the original roanoke building served as the chicago location for the national weather service weather forecast official climate site.

the current building was designed in three phases: in 1915 holabird & roche's design for the first 16 floors was built, and five floors were added in 1922. it was built originally as the sixteen-story high lumber exchange building and later renamed as the 11 south lasalle street building. the holabird & roche design had three basements and rock caissons. the original 16-floor building was a late chicago school commercial building that incorporated arches at both the fourth and the top floor, but when the top five floors were added in 1922 under the original cornice, the top rank of arches disappeared. the building uses dark terra cotta with italianate designs.  the vaulted ceiling and marble wall lobby contribute to what is described as a classical entrance and lobby. the palladian entrance uses contrasting white variegated and black marble.

in 1925 the building was raised to its current 35 story height by the addition of an adjacent tower to the east of the madison street frontage. the 36-story tower was added east of the original structure on the site of the former desoto building at 125-129 west madison. the tower was an early example of the use of setbacks and it uses ranks of paired windows. when the tower was built, four bronze bells were cast by the meneely bell company (the second meneely bell foundry) and installed as a clock-chime. they were set to chime an original composition called "samheim", which is norse for "tomorrow", every quarter-hour. the largest of these bells weighs 7,201 pounds and is inscribed with the name "leander" in honor of leander mccormick.

the current roanoke building is the city's only example of a structure in the style of portuguese gothic architecture.  the building was modernized in the 1950's and went through a postmodern renovation in 1984 to evoke the original ornamentation. the building has the same frontage as the original roanoke building plus that of the former farewell hall (built by william w. boyington at 131-3 west madison street). from 1920 until 1969 it hosted the offices of the law firm sidley & austin. today it is leased by small service industry firms, such as second-floor tenant thomas p. gohagan & co., which arranges travel trips and tours for non-profit organizations. extensive renovation to the lobby, the façade, the elevators and the exterior lighting occurred when it was converted into a "boutique" hotel.

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2022.