Merchandise Mart

This article is about the building in Chicago, Illinois. For other subjects, see Merchandise Mart (disambiguation).
Merchandise Mart
Map
General information
TypeMixed
Architectural styleArt Deco
Location222 Merchandise Mart Plaza
Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates41°53′18″N 87°38′08″W / 41.8884°N 87.6355°W / 41.8884; -87.6355
Construction startedAugust 16, 1928
Completed1930
OpeningMay 5, 1930; 94 years ago (1930-05-05)
OwnerVornado Realty Trust
Height
Roof340 feet (103.6 m)
Technical details
Floor count18 base, 25 tower
Floor area4,000,000 square feet (372,000 m2)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Graham, Anderson, Probst and White with the firm's Alfred P. Shaw as chief architect
Main contractorJohn W. Griffiths & Sons
Other information
Public transit access Brown Purple at Merchandise Mart

The Merchandise Mart (or the Merch Mart, or the Mart) is a commercial building in downtown Chicago, Illinois. When it opened in 1930, it was the world's largest building, with 4 million square feet (372,000 m2) of floor space.[1][2] The Art Deco structure is at the junction of the Chicago River's branches. The building is a leading retailing and wholesale location, hosting 20,000 visitors and tenants daily in the late 2000s.[needs update][3][4]

Built by Marshall Field & Co. and later owned for over half a century by the Kennedy family, the Mart centralizes Chicago's wholesale goods business by consolidating architectural and interior design vendors and trades under a single roof.[2] It has become home to several other enterprises, including the Shops at the Mart, the Chicago campus of the Illinois Institute of Art, Motorola Mobility, the Grainger Technology Group branch of W.W. Grainger, and the Chicago tech startup center 1871.[5] It was sold in January 1998 to Vornado Realty Trust.[6]

The Merchandise Mart is so large that it had its own ZIP Code (60654) until 2008, when the Postal Service assigned the ZIP Code to part of the surrounding area.[7][8] In 2010, the building opened its Design Center showrooms to the public.[9]

  1. ^ "Marchitecture". merchandisemart.com. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  2. ^ a b "Architects". merchandisemart.com. Archived from the original on October 24, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  3. ^ "Building of the Mart". merchandisemart.com. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  4. ^ "Architects - Beyer". merchandisemart.com. Archived from the original on 2008-04-10. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  5. ^ "How 1871 Has Changed Chicago's Startup World One Year Later". WMAQ-TV. 2013-05-13. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference kennedysale was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Zimmerman, Karla; Dunford, Lisa; Cavalieri, Nate (2008). Chicago City Guide. Lonely Planet. p. 63. ISBN 978-1741047677. does Merchandise Mart have its own area code.
  8. ^ Lyons, Margaret (April 25, 2008). "ZIP It, ZIP It Good". Chicagoist. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016.
  9. ^ Grant, Barri Leinier (March 10, 2011). "A Guide to Shopping the Merchandise Mart". Chicago.