Monadnock Building

The Monadnock Building wears a massive, sheer facade of dark brown brick that rises sixteen stories without a single ornament. When the northern half went up in eighteen ninety-one, architects Burnham and Root carried the weight of the building with thick masonry walls six feet wide at the base. It was the tallest wall-bearing office building ever constructed. The pressure of its own weight cracked the foundation slabs, and the structure began to sink into the soft Chicago soil almost immediately.