Chicago Board of Trade Building
Limestone Art Deco tower crowned by a faceless grain goddess, once alive with roaring trading pits.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to the Chicago Board of Trade Building follows trader Scott Shellady, known on the floor for a cow-spotted jacket his father started as a joke in the 1960s, and the octagonal pits where hundreds of traders once shouted prices for six hours a day. You'll hear about the silent hand-signal language they built to survive the noise, from finger taps for multiples to a turned palm for a sale, and how some traders hired voice coaches to protect their voices. Look up at the faceless aluminum goddess Ceres crowning the tower, deliberately sculpted without features for a face nobody below was meant to see.
This audio guide was created using AI.