portion of the building currently houses the River Hotel, while the octagonal upper stories are occupied by a branch of the Club Quarters chain of membership corporate accommodations. Mather Tower was designated a Chicago Historic Landmark in 2001, and in 2006 it received a National Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Architecture and Structure The Neo-Gothic, otherwise referred to as the Gothic Revival, Style used in the design was part of the result of the "search" for a style of American Architecture at the time. The style had heavy influence on American architecture after its birth in England during the 18th Century (Middle). Neo-Gothic is a founding style seen all around the other late 19th Century and early 20th Century buildings in Chicago, and was a long lasting style around early America in general. As previously mentioned, the Mather Tower was clothed in a terra cotta-cladding, which was a façade gaining an immense amount of popularity at the time due to a number of characteristics it had to offer. Terra cotta itself had been around since before any sort of "sky scrapper" was a thought, aging back 5000+ years to its use in ancient Chinese Pottery. The cladding itself is a very strong, weather bearing material, giving it a long-lasting standing. Given that terra cotta cladding is simply hardened clay, it is a highly desirable material due to the lack of chemicals and natural formation. In the fast growing city of Chicago, just like the other cities in the early 20th century, there was a dense amount of population flooding into the city. Terra cotta is also known for its ability to absorb sound waves, giving it more desirable properties addressing the sound pollution in cities during building design. As more buildings grew taller, the move from heavy, Masonry walls to light weight structure was inevitable, and terra cotta cladding rose as a light weight and recyclable solution. Contrary to what it may seem, the deterioration of the Mather Tower, prior to its restoration in the early 2000's, did not originate in the falling terra cotta cladding itself. Although the material is durable and long lasting, it was still a relatively new kind of cladding (especially for skyscrapers) and came with some unpredicted design properties. Thermocycling along with a combination of compressive forces were not necessarily accounted for in the early 20th century design phase, which