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Louis H. Sullivan & Dankmar Adler (1893)

This is one of my favorite places in the museum. Imagine, preserving an entire room as a work of art! Since its preservation, this room has been used for balls, graduation luncheons and fundraiser cocktail parties. And being an alumni of the school, I have seen many a Gucci gown raised to perfection in this setting. But my favorite memories are those when the room and I are alone together. Then I can feel the ghost of the architects, money changers, and restorationists who with me take such pride in this elegant room.

The Trading Room was a place where great economic forces came together and Sullivan wanted to transfer that idea in architecture. He opened up the top of the ceiling to create a recessed, coffered ceiling that expressed the beams and covered them with a suspended skin of stenciled plaster. He also showed the architectural triumph of the room by focusing attention on the four columns that held up the great space. Sullivan overlaid the columns in scagliola, a plaster surface that gives the appearance of marble, and topped each one with a gilded plaster crown studded with jewels of light.

"If one had to choose for preservation an architectural interior of unequaled beauty that represented ideas formative to the course of modern architecture, the Trading Room from the Chicago Stock Exchange would top ones list", states the architect John Vinci. Numerous obstacles nearly lead to the total destruction of the Trading Room when the Stock Exchange building was demolished in 1972.

However many individuals believed that the Trading Room was as important a work as any work in the art museums. With the help of many people like Richard Nickel, architectural photographer & activist Vinci banned together to preserve and reconstruct the trading room as a whole.

The opulent ornament & verdant color scheme reflect Sullivan’s love of nature. The ceiling and the upper portion of the room are stenciled in six different ornamental patterns in fifty-seven shades of green, yellow, gold, rust, brown and blue. I could use many pages of effusive language to describe this wonderful room; it is truly a feast for the eyes and the soul.

Well in this case, you should. Vegetarians will cringe and the squeamish won't survive. This is a store that caters to the ethnic and religious needs of the community, slaughtering meat according to the Islamic Halal standards. Regardless of your religious beliefs, meat eaters swear by the quality of the freshly-killed meat, as it is minimally processed. A very informative article on the market can be found at this website.

Though I don't recommend this store for everybody, if you're staying in the area, have a kitchen, and want to eat some fresh meat or fish, this is the place to get your goods.