Marshall Field and Company Building

The Marshall Field and Company building fills an entire city block, defined by its massive granite columns and the ornate bronze clock perched over the corner of State and Washington. Marshall Field opened his dry goods store here in the eighteen seventies, eventually turning it into a retail cathedral that pioneered the concept of the department store. When the current structure rose in the early twentieth century, employees famously used a brass whistle to signal the start of the workday to downtown Chicago.