The formal entrance to the building is located on Jackson Boulevard, which in 1904 was a more important street than Michigan Avenue. The impressive entrance is believed to have been required by
Daniel Burnham, head of the architectural firm and the building's main stockholder. The firm moved its offices to the fourteenth floor, and Burnham's descendants continued ownership in the building until 1952. This Chicago School of Architecture building with Beaux Arts detailing is organized as a classicization of
John Wellborn Root's
Rookery. A street-level, two-story enclosed court designed in a symmetrical
Beaux-Arts style was surmounted by an open lightwell which was surrounded by a ring of offices. By the formal arched entrance on Jackson Boulevard, a large staircase led to shops and a second-floor balcony. White-glazed
terracotta sheaths the exterior façade and interior court and the lightwell is lined with white-glazed brick. Classical designs were used for the ornamental
dentils,
balusters, and
column capitals. The building is completely
steel-framed. After a four-year restoration, the sign was put on display at the museum in 2016. The building is significant as a historic site because Daniel Burnham and his staff made the 1909
Plan of Chicago in a penthouse on the northeast corner of the roof. ==Tenants==