dinkelberg-designed heavy cast bronze interior elevator capital recast for the jewelers building

Jewelers Building, Pure Oil Building, North American Life Insurance Building, 35 E. Wacker
Life Span: 1926-Present
Location: 35 E. Wacker Drive
Architect: Giaver & Dinkelberg/Thielbar & Fugard

JEWELERS BUILDING (1926-1928), at 35 E. Wacker drive, on the southwest corner of N. Wabash avenue, later the Pure Oil building (1928-1962), was built 1925-1927. Giaver & Dinkelberg were the engineers and architects, and Thielbar & Fugard the supervising architects. The building is 24 stories high, with a 17-story tower and three basements, supported on rock caissons, This building was one of the last of the large-scale commercial structures in Chicago to be designed in the classical revival style that became popular in the wake of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893.

This was also the first building designed to take advantage of the Wacker Drive Esplanade, on which construction was proceeding concurrently. The lower floors of were opened to their first tenants in May, 1927, the upper stories opened in the summer and the tower in October.