Benjamin Marshall was born in Chicago on May 5, 1874.  He was educated at the Harvard School in Kenwood.   He apprenticed at the  architectural firm of  Marble and Wilson from 1893 through 1895.  In 1902 he established his own practice and began work on the Iroquois Theater.  The disastrous Iroquois Theater Fire followed just one year later.

In 1905 he formed the partnership Marshall and Fox with Charles Eli Fox, who had graduated from MIT. Fox was the firm's construction specialist and project manager. Benjamin Marshall set the tone of the firm's flamboyantly stylish and successful  practice of architecture and development. In 1936 Marshall sold his Wilmette home and studio and moved to the Drake Hotel.  He died there in 1944.