The Lost Loop Skyscraper and the Rand McNally Plant You Can Still See

Chicago’s famous early Rand McNally Building on Adams Street no longer exists. The Rand McNally structure that visitors can still see is the former publishing plant at 536 S Clark St, Chicago, IL 60605, at Clark and Harrison. It now serves as a historic Federal Building rather than a museum or Rand McNally attraction, according to the U.S. General Services Administration’s property history.

These were separate buildings, designed by different architectural firms for different stages of Rand McNally’s growth. For a present-day architecture walk, save the Clark Street address rather than an old Adams Street location.

The short answer: Chicago’s famous early building is gone, but its successor survives

The building celebrated in early-skyscraper histories was a Burnham & Root structure on Adams Street in the Loop. Completed around 1890, it combined Rand McNally’s printing operations with stores and rentable offices. It was demolished around 1911–1912.

The surviving building is the later Holabird & Roche publishing plant at 536 S Clark Street. Rand McNally occupied it from 1912 to 1952, after which the federal government acquired and renovated it for offices.

Building and location	Architect	Original role and period	Present status
Adams Street Rand McNally Building, Loop	Burnham & Root	Mixed office-and-printing building, completed around 1890	Demolished around 1911–1912
Former Rand McNally plant, 536 S Clark St	Holabird & Roche	Publishing plant and headquarters, occupied by Rand McNally from 1912 to 1952	Survives as federal offices

The quickest way to distinguish them is by function: the lost Adams Street property was an early mixed-use skyscraper, while the surviving Clark Street building was a large, integrated production plant.

What survives at 536 S Clark Street

The official address is 536 S Clark St, Chicago, IL 60605. Historical material may show 536–538 S Clark, referring to the same block-scale property at the northwest corner of Clark and Harrison.

Rand McNally commissioned Holabird & Roche to design the building as a publishing plant and administrative headquarters. Constructed from 1909 to 1912, it brought production, storage and management operations together rather than functioning as a conventional office tower.

The first floor included storefronts. Administrative offices, a stock room and a counting room occupied the second floor. Upper levels contained open work areas, press machinery, composing rooms, engraving facilities and specialized areas for producing maps and globes. Some of the highest floors could also be divided for office tenants.

That internal organization explains the building’s size. Rand McNally could move work through administration, composition, engraving, printing and finished map or globe production within one facility. The property represented the physical infrastructure of Chicago publishing, not merely the company’s mailing address.

Rand McNally remained there until moving to Skokie in 1952. The federal government then purchased the property and renovated it for office use. GSA identifies the surviving structure as a historic Federal Building and a contributing resource in the South Loop Printing House District.

For an architecture walker, the exterior is valuable because it preserves the scale of an early 20th-century printing operation. It is better understood as industrial publishing architecture than as another Loop office skyscraper.

The Rand McNally skyscraper on Adams Street did not survive

The earlier Rand McNally Building stood on Adams Street in the Loop, generally near Adams and LaSalle. Historical directories and accounts use several addresses, including 158–174 Adams and 157 W Adams, so there is no benefit in treating one surviving address form as uncontested.

Burnham & Root designed the property as an early office-and-printing skyscraper. Rand McNally was the principal occupant, but the building also contained stores and rentable offices. It therefore combined a major publishing operation with the broader commercial program expected of a downtown office building.

Its design used iron or skeletal framing, a terra-cotta exterior and a large central light court. Offices and circulation were arranged around that court, which helped bring daylight and air into a site located within the block. Contemporary planning reports also described Rand McNally’s printing plant on the upper floors and offices or stores below (compiled historical records).

The dates vary according to whether an account refers to design, construction, opening or completion. Planning was underway by 1888–1889, while the building is commonly treated as completed around 1890. The same disagreement affects its demolition: Britannica gives 1911, while Chicago historical records give 1912. Dating its disappearance to around 1911–1912 acknowledges that conflict without claiming false precision.

The building is sometimes described as the world’s first all-steel-framed skyscraper, but that distinction is disputed. It is safer to describe it as a significant early Chicago skyscraper that helped demonstrate new approaches to tall commercial construction.

What matters for a visitor is simpler: the Burnham & Root Rand McNally Building is gone. A walk to Adams Street will not reveal the structure shown in historic photographs and architecture references.

A two-building timeline of Rand McNally in Chicago

• Around 1890: Rand McNally moves into the Burnham & Root building on Adams Street, combining publishing work with stores and rental offices.
• Around 1911–1912: The Adams Street building is demolished.
• 1912: The company occupies the larger Holabird & Roche plant at Clark and Harrison.
• 1912–1952: Rand McNally uses the Clark Street property as its publishing and administrative complex.
• 1952: The company relocates to Skokie.
• After the move: The federal government acquires the Clark Street building and renovates it for offices.

This was more than a change of address. The Adams Street building reflected an earlier commercial model in which company operations shared a tall downtown property with shops and offices. The Clark Street successor was organized around large-scale publishing, with space for presses, engraving, composition, inventory, administration and map-and-globe production.

How to use 536 S Clark as an architecture stop

Go to 536 S Clark St, at the northwest corner of Clark and Harrison. Treat the property as a focused exterior stop connecting the southern edge of downtown with Chicago’s printing and publishing history.

Do not plan around an interior visit. Because it operates as federal office space, enter only if the agency responsible for the property confirms that visitors are permitted.

Identification, screening and prohibited-item rules can differ among federal facilities. Facility security committees determine measures for individual properties, so general federal guidance cannot establish the admission procedure at this particular address (DHS federal-property guidance).

From the surrounding public sidewalks, concentrate on the building’s scale and location. Its broad footprint becomes more meaningful when considered in relation to the production that once took place inside: press work, composition, engraving, administration and map-and-globe manufacturing.

Use it as one deliberate South Loop stop rather than the sole destination of an architecture day. The purpose is to see the surviving shell of Rand McNally’s publishing operation, not to expect an indoor attraction.

Do not confuse it with Rand Tower or Buffalo’s Rand Building

An unqualified search for “Rand Building” may lead to Buffalo rather than Chicago.

Rand Tower is another unrelated property. It stands at 527 Marquette Avenue South in Minneapolis and was completed in 1929.

For the practical Chicago answer, use 536 S Clark St. That is the surviving Rand McNally-associated building to view from the exterior; the pioneering Burnham & Root skyscraper belongs to Chicago’s lost architectural history.