The Merchandise Mart: The Titan on the River
Why is it significant?
Stand on the riverbank opposite the gargantuan limestone and terracotta facade of the Merchandise Mart.
Key Facts
| Place | The Merchandise Mart: The Titan on the River |
|---|---|
| Address | 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL 60654 |
| Geo Coordinates | 41.88850, -87.63590 |
| Part of Walk | Chicago Riverwalk & Mobsters: The Architecture of Crime and Titans |
| Generated | Generated |
Stand on the riverbank opposite the gargantuan limestone and terracotta facade of the Merchandise Mart. Stretching for two full city blocks with four million square feet of floor space, this colossal Art Deco monolith was the largest building in the world by floor area when Marshall Field and Company opened it in nineteen thirty, surpassed only by the Pentagon during World War Two.
The building is so massive that it was assigned its very own dedicated United States postal ZIP code: sixty-six-fifty-four. In nineteen forty-five, Joseph P. Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy political dynasty, purchased the entire building for a bargain twelve and a half million dollars, generating the enormous family fortune that financed John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign.
Look across the water at night: the facade becomes the canvas for Art on theMart, the largest permanent digital projection mapping installation on Earth, projecting moving contemporary art across two and a half acres of stone.
Head north into River North toward the bullet scars of Holy Name Cathedral.