Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex

Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Sears Merchandise Building Tower
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Location	925 S. Homan Avenue, North Lawndale, Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates	41°52′10″N 87°42′42″W / 41.86944°N 87.71167°W / 41.86944; -87.71167Coordinates: 41°52′10″N 87°42′42″W / 41.86944°N 87.71167°W / 41.86944; -87.71167
Area	16 acres (6.5 ha)
Built	1905 (1905)
Built by	Thompson-Starrett Co.
Architect	Nimmons & Fellows
NRHP Reference #	78001129
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	June 2, 1978
Designated NHL	June 2, 1978

The Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex on the west side of Chicago, Illinois is where Sears, Roebuck conducted the bulk of its mail order operations between 1906 and 1993. It also served as the corporate headquarters until 1973, when the Sears Tower was completed. Of its original 40-acre (16 ha) complex, only three buildings now survive, and have been adaptively rehabilitated to other uses. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, at which time it still included the 3-million square foot mail order plant, the world's largest commercial building when it was completed. That building has been demolished, its site taken up by the Homan Square redevelopment project.

These core buildings occupy an area bounded on the north by West Arthington Street, the west by Central Park Avenue, the east by Spaulding Avenue, and the south by West Fillmore Street. The surviving buildings can be seen from Homan and West Arthington.

Sears, Roebuck was founded in 1893, and was originally headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Experiencing rapid growth, the retailer in 1895 moved its headquarters to a building on West Adams Street in Chicago, and again the following year to Fulton and Desplaines Streets. The company's rapid growth created problems with the fulfillment of orders, because it had to lease space all over the city to warehouse its products.

In 1904 the company purchased over 40 acres (16 ha) of land on Chicago's West Side, and embarked on one of the largest retail development projects to date. The centerpiece of the company-owned "city within a city" were its central administration building, a merchandise development house, and a mail order processing facility, along with a power plant to provide electricity and heat to the entire complex. Designed by Nimmons and Fellows, a local architectural firm, the complex was so large the company required city permission to build over some city streets.

In the 1920s extensive athletic facilities were added to the complex, as an encouragement for after-work socialization to keep employee morale high. Included were a clubhouse and tennis courts, and the Sears Department of the YMCA. Events included an annual track and field competitions, and company baseball teams.

By 1926, the first ground level parking lots replaced the athletic fields. This happened at the same time that a strategic shift from catalog sales to retail stores had started with easy auto travel making travel to a store more practical. By 1943 the complex had become a city within itself. Sears created their own services for effective use, much advanced beyond what was required at the time, including: