Look up, with me, at the Marquette Building, located on the northwest corner at the intersection of Dearborn and Adams Streets. This superbly restored Chicago School skyscraper is named after Father Jacques Marquette who, with Louis Jolliet, was the first European recorded to have explored the Chicago area, wintering over in 1674-75.
This set of postings is limited to the bronze panels located over the east entrance to the Marquette Building. If you are in the area, I urge you to enter the building and enjoy the beautiful Tiffany mosaics and additional bronze reliefs just inside the lobby. There are many treasures both within -- and outside -- this remarkable building!
For a more formal introduction to the Marquette Building, consider contacting the Chicago Architecture Foundation. A number of walking tours scheduled during the week include the Marquette Building among their destinations.
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You may also want to see:
the first posting, Look up? … but why?
the friezes on the InterContinental Chicago, for photographs of: The North Frieze: Consecration, The West Frieze: Wisdom, and The South Frieze: Contribution
the Aesop Screen, the Chicago Tribune Tower, 435 North Michigan Avenue
the eleventh-floor frieze on the 112 South Michigan Avenue Building, originally the home of the Illinois Athletic Club.
the three bronze statues on the third-floor level of 112 South Michigan Avenue Building.
the McGraw-Hill Building facade at 520 North Michigan Avenue
the Monadnock Building, at Jackson and Clark
Cobb Gate at the University of Chicago
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The Bronze Reliefs -- Marquette Building's East Facade
This posting focuses on the four bronze reliefs that can be viewed above the east entrance to the Marquette Building. The panels were the work of Hermon Atkins MacNeil, a noted American sculptor who is also credited with designing the 'Standing Liberty' silver dollar in 1916. The reliefs can be readily seen from the sidewalk in front of the building.
The reliefs are displayed, above, in the order in which they appear over the entrance, with the south (upper left) panel being the first, and the north (lower right) panel, the last of the four.
1. Marquette, Joliet and a handful of voyageurs load their two canoes for their expedition to explore the Mississippi. The two leaders are standing near the center of the panel.
2. Marquette, standing at the bow of the nearest canoe, tries to convince Michigamea tribe members that they come in peace. Jolliet is seated in the bow of the other canoe, to the right of Marquette.
3. Marquette becomes ill during subsequent travels along the Illinois River. As a result, the expedition spends the winter of 1674-5 near the Chicago River. Marquette is seated in the sled.
4. In May of 1675, on his return to the mission he founded at St. Ignace, Marquette died and was buried near the modern town of Ludington, Michigan. This panel is probably intended to portray the removal of Marquettes remains to the St. Ignace Mission in 1677.
