Alfred S. Alschuler (1876-1940) was a graduate of the Armour Institute of Technology who began his architectural practice in the office of Dankmar Adler in 1899. With Adler’s death the next year, he moved to the office of Samuel Treat, and by 1904 the firm was known as Treat & Alschuler. In 1907 he established his own firm. Alschuler was noted for designing a wide variety of building types, from industrial buildings to warehouses, department stores, offices, and synagogues. Among his most prominent designs, all in Chicago, were the Brach’s Candy Factory, the Florsheim Shoe Factory, the Garment Center Building, Wieboldt’s Department Store (CL), the London Guarantee Building (CL, NR), Sinai Temple, and Isaiah Temple.

Alschuler was a capable designer in a variety of historic or modern architectural styles as well. His factories were direct, modern expressions of their reinforced concrete frames, while in his office and religious buildings he demonstrated a detailed knowledge of historic motifs, particularly in the classical style. The Congress-Wabash Building is one of many lesser-known buildings that exemplify the architect’s work. The building is outwardly a civic statement of the benevolence of its primary original tenant, a bank, while providing modern efficiencies on its interior.