Thank you very much Sayles.

That is a beautiful photo, Timeandagainphoto.

This photograph shows the exuberant original cornice that once crowned this building - now sadly truncated, as seen in the contemporary photo. Persistent rumors tell of a municipal ordinance that required building owners to remove projecting cornices from downtown Chicago buildings sometime in the late 1940s. The Chicago History Museum collection has a picture of this operation being performed on the Marshall Field Department Store dated November 25, 1947. While some notable Chicago landmarks (the Reliance Building, the Carson Pirie Scott Store) have had their cornices restored in facsimile form in recent years, this one and so many others are still sadly shorn off at the top. What a terrible shame!

[If you want your noggin bashed in by falling masonry. - Dave]

I'm surprised that the two smaller buildings to the right are still there. The one farthest to the right has some more floors added on top but they left the bric-a-brac that was at the top in 1912 as part of the newer facade.

[Both of those smaller buildings have had floors added. - Dave]

Across the street from the Art Institute. Luscious architecture. There's a Walgreens in the ground floor where I bought a Coke on a scorching day in August of 2018 after a visit to the galleries.

Below is the same view from June of 2017.

Either the gas company did an architecturally sensitive addition, or the difference in color on the front of the building indicates that it is undergoing a much-needed cleaning.

[It was built in two phases. - Dave]