McGraw-Hill Building

520 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
1928-29 McGraw-Hill Building

Designed by Chicago architects Frederick J. 
Thielbar and John Reed Furgard, this 16-story art 
deco limestone building is a collaboration between 
one of the city's leading architectural firms and 
the sculptors Eugene amd Gwen Lux. Gwen Lux is 
among America's pioneer women sculptresses; her 
work can be found at the Rockefeller Center complex 
in New York City and at the General Motors 
Technical Center in Detroit designed by architect 
Eero Saarinen. Here, look for Atlas and for the 
figures of the zodiac.  They make an interesting 
comparison with the incised motifs found nearby 
on buildings of the same period such as the 
Medinah Temple Building (now the Intercontinental 
Hotel) and 333 North Michigan Avenue.  The McGraw
-Hill Building served as the Midwestern offices 
of the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, among the 
largest trade paper and book publishers in the 
country.  Michigan Avenue was the location of 
choice for Midwestern offices of New York City 
corporations.  The building also exemplifies the
development of Michigan Avenue North of the 
Chicago River in the 1920s after completion of 
the Michigan Avenue Bridge.  The North Central 
Association, now the Greater North Michigan 
Avenue Association, worked closely with 
architects and developers to insure the highest 
quality design and uses for the new boulevard.

The McGraw-Hill Building is slated for demolition by developer John Buck to be redeveloped as a retail complex leading to a Nordstrom Department Store on Rush Street. Fortunately the McGraw-Hill Building received preliminary landmark designation by the City Department of Planning in June. It was also declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

If you would like to support the landmark designation drive for this historic building along with adaptive-use along Michigan Ave, you can fill out a form which will send email to Chicago's Mayor, Richard M. Daley.

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Š1995-96 Perspectives Film and Video

McGraw-Hill Building

Check your map for the next stop on the tour or Return to the homepage

Check your map for the next stop on the tour
or
Return to the homepage