{"nrhp_refnum":"76000695","name":"Leiter II Building","other_names":["Sears, Roebuck and Company"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"NE corner of S. State and E. Congress Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.876431953000065,"lon":-87.62743110599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-01-07","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1976-01-07","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Leiter II Building is a commercial building at the northeast corner of South State Street and East Congress in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, built 1889-1891 and designed by Major William Le Baron Jenny. It was originally built for Seigel, Cooper and Company.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a proto-skyscraper and the highest achievement of architect William Le Baron Jenny. It was the first building in which a steel and wrought-iron skeleton served as both the structural and the architectural element. Jenny combined structural and aesthetic design here more successfully than in his earlier or later work.","narrative":"Leiter II Building occupies the northeast corner of South State Street and East Congress in Chicago. Built between 1889 and 1891 to designs by William Le Baron Jenny, it was originally constructed for Seigel, Cooper and Company, which did not occupy it for more than seven years. The eight-story structure is 132 feet high and 402 feet long along State Street, and was among the largest buildings in the world by floor area and volume when completed. It has no bearing walls; fireproofed metal columns carry the floors and walls, leaving open floors that tenants could subdivide. The facades are light gray Maine granite with Romanesque colonettes framing large plate glass panes. The nomination describes it as a proto-skyscraper and Jenny's finest work, the first building where the steel and wrought-iron skeleton formed both the structure and the visible architectural pattern. Interiors have been extensively remodeled, and caissons were added under the west wall in 1940 before subway construction.","period_of_significance":"1889-1891","architect_builder":"Major William Le Baron Jenny (1832-1907)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Form lists the building as occupied, in good condition, altered, with interiors extensively remodeled; the home office of Sears, Roebuck and Company occupied it at the time.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.426517-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/44/8915/28891544/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/76000695_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000695/61fa50e919-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76000695/61fa50e919-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Zol87","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leiter_II_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Zol87</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leiter_II_Building.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"98001351","name":"Loop Retail Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/loop-retail-historic-district-98001351/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891544","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Leiter_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3477008"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/leiter-ii-building-76000695/"}