The Ellicott Square Building was designed by Charles Atwood of D. H. Burnham & Company, and finished in May 1896. It was built in less than a year for $3.5 million.
It had 10 stories and 447,000 square feet, which made it the largest office building in the world by floor area until 1908. Daniel Burnham's mantra was "make no little plans." The building is named after Joseph Ellicott, who laid out Buffalo.
Inside is a courtyard with a glass roof and a marble mosaic floor with 23 million pieces of marble, showing sun symbols from civilizations around the world. In 1896 and 1897 the building also housed the Vitascope Theater.