Designed by John Wellborn Root Sr. and Daniel Burnham, it was built in 1882–1883, and was demolished in 1902.

According to Thomas Tallmadge, "What Chartres was to the Gothic cathedral, the Montauk Block was to the high commercial building".

In his non-fiction book set at the World's Columbian Exposition, The Devil in the White City (2003), author Erik Larson claims that the Montauk became the first building to be called a "skyscraper" (Larson 2003: 29).

In his 1974 monograph Burnham of Chicago, Thomas Hines makes a similar claim.

It is 130 feet (40 m) high, in 10 stories, of steel construction, on heavy foundations, with thick walls.