Chicago Board of Trade Building

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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A 31-foot aluminium statue of Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture, by John H. Storrs, crowns the Chicago Board of Trade Building at 141 W. Jackson Boulevard. The building's owner gives its weight as 6,500 pounds and its date as 1930.

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Chicago Board of Trade Building

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Site-level location · 41.8777° N, 87.6322° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

The figure that crowns the Chicago Board of Trade Building is a goddess of agriculture with no face.

The building's owner describes a 6,500-pound, 31-foot aluminium statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, by the sculptor John H. Storrs, and dates it to 1930. She holds a sheaf of wheat in her left hand and corn in her right, a reference to the exchange's trade in commodities. Storrs, born in Chicago, spent much of his time in Paris; the Chicago Tribune reported on 4 May 1930 that he had modelled the figure in his Paris studio and that it was being cast in aluminium in Providence, Rhode Island. The Tribune expected a statue 30 feet high.

The building was designed by Holabird & Root and opened on 9 June 1930. The Chicago Architecture Center calls the faceless aluminium Ceres the quintessential Art Deco ornament for the stylised tower. Preservation Chicago notes that the building was designated a Chicago Landmark in May 1977.

Why no face? Storrs told the Tribune in 1930 that the face was suggested, "inasmuch as there are no regular features", and that from the street the statue would appear to pedestrians mostly in silhouette. WTTW adds that Storrs reportedly thought the building so tall that no one would see the face.

The building is a working office building. A free museum opened in its north lobby in July 2025, according to WTTW. The Chicago Tribune reported in July 2025 that the roof's observation deck, below the statue, closed in the 1970s, with reopening only a long-term possibility.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

The statue sits on the pyramidal roof of an operating office building. Storrs expected, in 1930, that pedestrians would see it mostly in silhouette from the street. WTTW reported that a free museum opened in the north lobby in July 2025; the roof observation deck closed in the 1970s.

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141 W. Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, at the south end of LaSalle Street. The statue is on the roof; Storrs expected, in 1930, that pedestrians would see it mostly in silhouette from the street. The roof observation deck is closed, and the building is an operating office building.

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