User:Flopez4/Chicago Board of Trade Building

Architecture
In 1925, the Chicago Board of Trade commissioned Holabird & Root to design the current building. The general contractors Hegeman & Harris built it for $11.3 million, although the reported twenty-year mortgage value was $12 million ($12 million in 1925 equates to about  in  dollars). Clad in gray Indiana limestone, topped with a copper pyramid roof, and standing on a site running 174 ft east–west on Jackson Boulevard and 240 ft north–south on LaSalle Street, the 605 ft tall art deco-styled building opened on June 9, 1930. It serves as the southern border for the skyscrapers hugging LaSalle Street and is taller than surrounding structures for several blocks. The Chicago Board of Trade has operated continuously on its fourth floor since the 1930 opening, dedicating 19000 sqft to what was then the world's largest trading floor. Built in 1930 and first designated a Chicago Landmark on May 4, 1977, the building was listed as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 16, 1978.

The advent of steel frame structural systems allowed completely vertical construction; but as with many skyscrapers of the era, the exterior was designed with multiple setbacks at increasing heights, which served to allow additional light into the ever-deepening concrete valleys in urban cores. At night, the setbacks are upwardly lit by floodlights, further emphasizing the structure's vertical elements. The night illumination design was a common contemporary Chicago architectural theme, seen also in the Wrigley Building, the Jewelers Building, the Palmolive Building, the LaSalle-Wacker Building, and the Tribune Tower. Interior decoration includes polished surfaces throughout, the use of black and white marble, prominent vertical hallway trim, and an open three-story lobby which at the time of opening housed the world's largest light fixture.

Though One LaSalle Street had five more floors, the CBOT building was the first in Chicago to exceed a height of 600 ft. After surpassing the Chicago Temple Building, it was the tallest in Chicago until the Daley Center was completed in 1965. Known for its work on the Brooklyn Bridge, the family-operated factory of John A. Roebling supplied all of the cables used in the building's 23 Otis elevators. Beneath the main trading floor over 2700 mi of telephone and telegraph wires were once hidden. No less than 150000 mi of wires (considered possibly the most direct long-distance wire from any building) once ran from the room. Although the building was commissioned for the Chicago Board of Trade, its first tenant was the Quaker Oats Company, which moved in on May 1, 1930.

Additional changes to the building
In turn of 21st century, Chicago Board of Trade introduced a new form of exchange by going digital. After a foreign competitor company overtook CBOT as the "world's highest volume futures exchange", CBOT needed an update in order to compete. CBOT's update brought in a state-of-the-art $182 million trading floor. The focus was no longer on the highest volume but rather "doing the best job on annual report experience".

Adding to architectural design
Art deco was a form of design for buildings in Chicago during the early 1900s that addressed advancement in science and technology to draw the consumer and city away from The Great Depression. The Chicago Board of Trade, along, along with other art deco buildings, reflected a less colorful look to a more austere exterior that compliments older neighboring buildings. Which is why the architect chose to design the Chicago Board of Trade with limestone material.

Adding images
Photos of the faceless statue (Ceres) and the interior of the buildings to show more Art Deco features.