The eight-story steel-frame Putnam Building (the westernmost section) was constructed first. It was designed as a modern multifloor department store by one of America's greatest turn-of-the-century architectural firms, the Chicago-based Daniel H. Burnham and Company. The exterior image was one often repeated at that time: the base consisted of the ground-floor show windows and entrances, above which was a mezzanine floor; above this was the simple brick shaft with its arrangement of paired windows. The capital of the building consisted of a projecting cornice, below which was a terracotta decorated band with oval and horizontal windows. In 1920 the seven-story Parker Building was constructed on the opposite corner, and the space between the two buildings was left as a large light court, with a single-story building as an infill. The newer Parker Building essentially followed the design pattern of the earlier one, with the exception of the shaft windows, which are wide Chicago windows.