The second Bryan Block, designed by architects F. & E. Baumann, was built shortly after the fire and was among the first new projects to be cited as proof of the revival of Chicago. The view here is to the northwest. With four stories and a basement, the building was fifty-five feet high. As the signs on the Bryan Block indicate, its primary tenants were the real estate and insurance agents who were helping turn this part of downtown into its major financial district, especially once the Board of Trade constructed its headquarters two blocks to the south in the mid-1880s. Since 1905 the site of the Bryan Block has been occupied by the Northern Trust banking firm.
