Sears, Roebuck and Company Administration Building

“It helped fulfill Rosenwald's goals of better organization of the company, greater efficiency in filling orders, and a more sound financial footing. The new Administration Building was described in promotional literature thusly, "This beautiful building with its large, well lighted and perfectly ventilated offices, is an ideal office structure, with every convenience and every office appliance designed to facilitate the prompt and accurate handling of the business transacted here." For 1906, the first full year in the new facility, Sears had 9,290 employees on site and sales were more than $50 million.”

“The Sears, Roebuck and Company Administration Building is one of the finest works of George C. Nimmons, working both alone and in partnership with William K. Fellows, whose commercial and industrial building designs were significant for their combination of Chicago School forms with Prairie and Sullivanesque detailing.”

“The Administration Building is closely associated with the careers of three important Sears, Roebuck and Company executives. Richard W. Sears was the company's founder and first president. Julius Rosenwald, who succeeded Sears as company president, was the driving force behind the construction of the Sears headquarters, was significant in the company's expansion during the early 20th century, and was a leading philanthropist, supporting the University of Chicago, Adler Planetarium and a variety of African-American causes throughout the United States.”

“Sears, Roebuck and Company, which began as a mail order company, became the largest merchandiser in the United States through both catalogs and retail stores. The Sears catalog offered everything needed for the house, farm and family to rural and small-town Americans in the early part of the 20th century.”

“As one of Chicago's large employers, Sears, Roebuck and Company's policies of providing innovative benefits and programs encouraged similar programs by other businesses at a time when employee conditions were poor in much of the city.”

“Robert Wood, Sears' third president, promoted the expansion of the company into retail stores throughout the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s. The Administration Building, along with most other buildings in the Sears complex, was designed by George C. Nimmons, a significant architect of large-scale industrial and commercial buildings.”

“The new Mail Order Plant was to include the Administration Building, the Printing Building, the nearly three-million square foot Merchandise Building (which would be the largest commercial structure in America at the time), and the Power Plant.”

“Wood subsequently opened the first Sears retail store on February 2, 1925, in the Chicago mail order plant. Other retail stores soon followed. It was Wood's idea that "most of the company's retail stores could be located in outlying districts which would offer the advantages of lower rentals yet would also, because of the great mobility of Americans, still be within reach of potential customers." Wood proved right, retail sales grew steadily, and by 1931 accounted for more than half of all sales.”

“Sears, Roebuck and Company was significant to the economic history and growth of Chicago from 1894 through the 20th Century. In 1906, the year in which the completed plant opened in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood, the firm had 9,290 employees on site and sales were more than $50 million.”