The Commission on Chicago Landmarks today approved preliminary landmark status for the American Book Company Building, once home to one of the premiere companies in textbook publishing on Chicago's Near South Side.

"The American Book Company Building has been a visual landmark at the intersection of Cermak Road and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive since 1912," said Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Arnold Randall. "This building and its neighbor, the R. R. Donnelley and Sons Building are important reminders of the role that publishing and printing played in the city’s manufacturing past."

New York City-based American Book Company was formed with the consolidation of four of the five largest textbook publishing houses in the United States. In 1912, the American Book Company relocated its operations to its newly constructed Midwest headquarters, publishing center and distribution warehouse located at 320 E. Cermak Road.

Designed by renowned architect, Nelson Max Dunning, he was best known for his progressive yet elegant commercial and industrial buildings throughout the Midwest. While Dunning’s architecture remains throughout North America, the American Book Company and the American Furniture Mart, 666 N. Lake Shore Drive, are considered touchstones in his long distinguished career.

The handsome rectangular-shaped five-story building is finely crafted of red brick laid in various decorative patterns and embellished limestone, multi-colored terra cotta, and copper detailing. Despite its intended use as a warehouse and distribution center, the building conveys Beaux Arts formality, with projecting corner bays and a prominent tower over a classically ornamented entrance.

Rising from the bulk of the building is a nearly three-story masonry brick tower which hid the factory’s water tank and service tanks behind geometric detailing. The tower culminates with an octagonal structure that is capped with a metal hipped roof.