I've ever seen of Chicago's Masonic Temple. I have stereocards that show the Temple, but they don't have the detail of this image. Just north of the Masonic Temple (on the other side of the alley) is where the Chicago Theater will be built.

Chicago adamantly prohibited overhead wires over their downtown streets until after the turn of the century. Unlike New York and Washington which installed underground power conduits to power their downtown streetcars, the Chicago system retained their cable cars which towed the unpowered streetcars through downtown, as seen in the photo.

The Masonic Temple inspired Johnson/Burgee's 1987 building a few blocks away at 190 South La Salle (photo by J. Crocker).

Check out the star of the show.

Does anyone know what the large signs (S.E. Gross Real Estate, Sullivan Osteopath, etc.) on the buildings are constructed of? They are impressively substantial, and I can’t imagine many businesses affording a cast metal such as bronze (which would probably be too heavy anyway), yet wood seems too ephemeral for the purpose. Maybe thin sheets of stamped steel? I‘m sure that there are examples of these surviving to this day, but I don’t recall ever seeing any at salvage warehouses, antique stores, or flea markets.