The Walnut Room Great Tree: A Chicago Christmas Since 1907
Lunch under the Great Tree at Marshall Field's was a Chicago Christmas ritual for generations. How the tradition started in 1907, how they got a real 45-foot tree up there, and the restaurant's 2025 name change.
For a lot of Chicagoland families, Christmas meant one trip downtown: the windows on State Street, then lunch under the Great Tree in the Walnut Room at Marshall Field's.
Since 1907
Marshall Field's opened its restaurant on the seventh floor of the State Street store in 1907. It was first called the South Grill Room. It's often called the first restaurant in a department store. Later it was named for its Circassian walnut wood paneling.
That first Christmas, in 1907, it got a tree. It's had one every year since.
A real 45-foot tree
For more than five decades, the Great Tree was a real tree, about 45 feet tall. It was hauled up through the store's light well, decorated by Field's own design staff, and watched over by firefighters because of the fire risk.
In the early 1960s, the store switched to an artificial tree. It's still decorated with a new theme every year, and it's still the center of the room.
From Field's to Macy's
Macy's took over Marshall Field's in 2006, and the name came off the building. Chicagoans weren't happy. See how the Marshall Field's clock became Macy's.
The Walnut Room and the Great Tree stayed. In 2025, Macy's renamed the restaurant The Marshall Field's Walnut Room, bringing the old name back to the room.
What people remember
- Chicken pot pie, a Field's classic
- Frango mints on the way out
- Dressing up for it
- Waiting in a long line, and nobody minding
If you go
The Walnut Room gets very busy from Thanksgiving through New Year's. Reservations are a good idea, and weekday lunches are easier. Pair it with the State Street windows and Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza a few blocks away.
Do you have a family photo under the Great Tree? Most of us have one somewhere.