{"nrhp_refnum":"75000650","name":"Reid Murdoch Building","other_names":["City of Chicago Central Office Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"325 N. LaSalle St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.88811772300005,"lon":-87.63164398699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-08-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A seven-story brick industrial building with a clock tower at 325 North LaSalle Street on the Chicago River in Chicago, designed by George C. Nimmons and built in 1913-1914 as a food processing company and warehouse. It is now the City of Chicago Central Office Building.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an outstanding example of Chicago School industrial architecture, noting its simplicity, directness and structural definition. It also reflects Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago, which treated riverfront sites as aesthetic and commercial opportunities. It is considered important in the history of commerce for applying an important architectural style to a manufacturing structure.","narrative":"Built in 1913-1914 to designs by architect George C. Nimmons, this seven-story brick building at 325 North LaSalle Street faces the Chicago River. It was constructed as a food processing plant and warehouse, with two lower floors serving as loading docks. A clock tower rises three stories above the seventh floor and originally held a water tank for the sprinkler system. A concrete and steel frame faced with brick allowed large glazed areas and open floors, and terra cotta ornament accented the entrances, bays and tower. In 1926 one bay at the west end was removed when LaSalle Street was widened, and some decoration was lost. The City of Chicago bought the building in 1955 and remodeled it for municipal offices and courts. It was recognized as an outstanding example of Chicago School industrial architecture and as a riverfront building reflecting Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago, showing that a plain manufacturing structure could be a visual asset in the central city.","period_of_significance":"1913-1914","architect_builder":"George C. Nimmons","architectural_style":"Commercial (Chicago School industrial architecture, with suggestions of Prairie School forms)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of Chicago since 1955 and used as the Central Office Building for city offices, traffic courts and the State Attorney's Office; condition listed as good and altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.493524-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/84/8922/28892284/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000650.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000650/c745e2921c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000650/c745e2921c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.5","author":"User:JeremyA","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reid_Murdoch_Building_060415.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">User:JeremyA</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.5</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reid_Murdoch_Building_060415.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12001238","name":"West Loop-LaSalle Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/west-loop-lasalle-street-historic-district-12001238/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892284","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reid,_Murdoch_%26_Co._Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7309929"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/reid-murdoch-building-75000650/"}