Rookery Building Staircase
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is pleased to offer for private sale the Adams Street staircase from the northeast corner of the famed Rookery Building. A unique part of Chicago’s architectural history, the six flights of the original staircase will be sold individually by flight. The flights are comprised of cast iron and marble elements including: balustrades, baseboards, beam covers, columns, column covers, fascias, handrails, landing beams, landing tees, marble slabs, marble walls, newel posts, risers, stringers, treads and wainscoting. The stairway was carefully dismantled, tagged, numbered and removed during the renovation and restoration of the Rookery in March of 1990, over 100 years after the building was erected by the Chicago architectural team of Burnham and Root. Following this grand-scale restoration process, the building’s owner, L. Thomas Baldwin III, presented the stairway as a gift to the University Museum at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The sale of the staircase will benefit the University Museum. 
Construction of the Rookery Building took place between 1886 and 1888, and at the time, the twelve-story building was the tallest in the world. The Rookery Building was named for the temporary City Hall that was built on the site after the Great Chicago Fire. It was dubbed “the rookery,” referring to the birds that would roost on the exterior ledges, and for the dubious politicians who would congregate at the building. Root was also playing with the term “rook,” also called a castle in chess, as the building’s façade recalls a medieval fortress. While several names were suggested for Burnham and Root’s new skyscraper, the Rookery Building was selected as a nod to the city’s historic past. 
Located in Chicago’s Loop at the corner of LaSalle and Adams Streets, the Rookery Building was designed for the Central Safety Deposit Company. Burnham & Root were selected after several notable projects showed their designs to be innovative and progressive during the rush to rebuild after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The firm gained recognition after designing a home for Union Stockyards magnate John B. Sherman in 1874. After the Rookery Building was completed, they went on to design more office buildings in Chicago such as the Monadnock Building, the northern half of which was completed in 1891, and the Masonic Temple Building in 1892 (demolished in 1939).
The Rookery Building was significant to the development of American architecture and placed Chicago in the forefront of the race to build the first skyscraper. The Rookery itself is a transitional building that combines load-bearing masonry walls with an iron skeletal frame. The foundation for the Rookery was also an innovative detail conceived of by Root. Referred to as a grillage foundation or floating foundation, the foundation employed concrete and steel to ground the building in Chicago’s notoriously swampy soil. The Adams Street staircase was designed by Root and is ornamented with Moorish decoration that he loosely based on designs by Owen Jones from his 1856 work The Grammar of Ornament. The cast iron elements were executed by Hecla Iron Works of Brooklyn, New York, a firm that specialized in manufacturing ornamental iron and bronze items.
Rookery Building Timeline
1885: Commission to build the Rookery Building given to Burnham & Root by Central Safety Deposit Company. The company secured a lease from the city of Chicago that would not expire until 1982
1886-1888: Construction takes place on the Rookery Building at the corner of LaSalle and Adams streets
1888: Burnham & Root move their offices into the 11th floor of the Rookery Building
1906-07: Frank Lloyd Wright renovates the light court and lobbies
1931: William Drummond receives a commission to renovate the Rookery. He updates the lobbies and elevator banks and introduces some needed mechanical improvements, while also changing important architectural aspects of the building
1932-57: Interior court skylight painted and tarred over, altering the original design that was meant to bring natural light to the inner office spaces
1970: The Rookery Building added to the National Register for Historic Places
1972: The Rookery Building designated as a Chicago Landmark
1975: The Rookery Building listed as a National Historic Landmark
1982: Lease of Central Safety Deposit Company expires, and the Rookery Building reverts back to the ownership of the City of Chicago
1983: Continental Bank purchases the property and begins renovation plans, although due to financial reasons places the Rookery back on the market
1988: Baldwin Development Company purchases the Rookery Building
1989: Renovation begins under the direction of the McClier Corporation and Mr. Gunny Harboe
1990: Adams Street staircase removed from the Rookery Building, placed in numbered crates and taken to a storage facility in Hammond, Indiana
1992: Renovation and restoration of the Rookery Building completed, grand opening held on May 6th
1995: Adams Street staircase arrives at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
2006: The Rookery Building purchased for $56 million by New York-based Broadway Real Estate Partners
2007: The Rookery Building sold for $73 million to a group controlled by a European family called Metzler North America Corporation
2009: Burnham’s Centennial in the City of Chicago
