Maxwell-Briscoe Automobile Company Showroom

The Maxwell-Briscoe Automobile Company Showroom is a historic automobile showroom located at 1737 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Motor Row District. The showroom was built in 1909 for the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Company, which was founded in 1904 by Jonathan D. Maxwell and Benjamin Briscoe. William Ernest Walker, a Chicago architect who specialized in large-scale commercial buildings, designed the showroom. The four-story building is divided by brick piers; the ground floor features large plate-glass windows designed to showcase the company's automobiles, while the upper floors feature banks of double-hung and triple-hung windows between the piers. The building uses terra cotta extensively for decoration; a terra cotta stringcourse encircles the building above the first floor, terra cotta pediments and sills frame the window banks, and a terra cotta frieze runs below the roof line. Maxwell and Briscoe used the building as a showroom until 1915; it is one of the oldest surviving auto showrooms on Motor Row.[2]

Maxwell-Briscoe Automobile Company Showroom
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Location	1737 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates	41°51′36″N 87°37′25″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1909
Architect	William Ernest Walker
Part of	Motor Row Historic District (ID02001387)
MPS	Motor Row, Chicago, Illinois MPS
NRHP reference No.	02001349[1]
Added to NRHP	November 18, 2002

The showroom was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 18, 2002.[1]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. Peters, Linda (July 17, 2002). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Maxwell-Briscoe Automobile Company Showroom" (PDF). Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved January 1, 2018.