The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 1 ...

in 1871 (an exception being the

Water Tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towers often operate in conjun ...

). Chicago's architectural styles include Chicago Bungalows, Two-Flats, and

Graystones Graystones is a fell in the English Lake District. It lies in the North Western Fells region and is one of the peaks on the ridge which encircles the valley of Aiken Beck. Name According to Alfred Wainwright the name Graystones properly ...

along Logan Boulevard and Lawndale Avenue. The

Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, ...

is home to skyscrapers as well as sacred architecture including " Polish Cathedrals". Chicago is home to one of the largest and most diverse collections of skyscrapers in the world.

Skyscrapers

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200 South Wacker Drive 200 South Wacker Drive is a high-rise office building located in Chicago, Illinois. Construction of the building began in 1979 and was completed in 1981. Harry Weese Associates designed the building, which has 41 stories and stands at a height of ...

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Willis Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108-story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), ...

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111 South Wacker Drive 111 South Wacker Drive is a high-rise office building located in Chicago, Illinois. Completed in 2005 and standing at 681 feet (208 m), the 51 story blue-glass structure is one of the tallest in the city. It sits on the site of the former U.S. ...

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Kluczynski Federal Building The Kluczynski Federal Building is a skyscraper in the downtown Chicago Loop located at 230 South Dearborn Street. The 45-story structure was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1974 as the last portion of the new Federal Center ...

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Buckingham Fountain Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the wo ...

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University Club of Chicago The University Club of Chicago is a private social club located at 76 East Monroe Street at the corner of Michigan Avenue & Monroe Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It received its charter in 1887, when a group of college friends, principa ...

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Leo Burnett Building The Leo Burnett Building, located on 35 West Wacker Drive at North Dearborn Street in the Chicago Loop, is a 50-story, 635 foot (193 m) tall skyscraper above the Chicago River's Main Stem on the southern bank. When built in 1989, it was the 12th ...

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Crain Communications Building The Crain Communications Building is a 39-story, 582 foot (177 m) skyscraper located at 150 North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It was also known as the Smurfit–Stone Building and the Stone Container Building. While the bui ...

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Trump Tower Chicago The Trump International Hotel and Tower is a skyscraper condo-hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The building, named for Donald Trump, was designed by architect Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. Bovis Lend Lease built the 100-stor ...

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340 on the Park 340 on the Park is a residential tower in the Lakeshore East development of the neighborhood of New Eastside/ East Loop Chicago and was completed in 2007. The building briefly surpassed 55 East Erie as the tallest all-residential building ...

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Olympia Centre The Olympia Centre is a skyscraper in Chicago. It is a mixed use building consisting of offices in the lower part of the building and residences in the narrower upper section. It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & ...

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John Hancock Center The John Hancock Center is a 100- story, 1,128-foot supertall skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Magnificent Mile district, the building was officially renamed 875 North Michigan Avenue in 2018. The skyscraper was designe ...

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The Parkshore The Parkshore is a 556 ft (169m) tall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. It was completed in 1991 and has 56 floors. Barancik Conte designed the building, which is the 53rd tallest in Chicago. The pool on the 56th floor is the highest outdoor ...

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401 East Ontario 401 East Ontario is a 515 ft (157m) tall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. It was completed in 1990 and has 51 floors. It is tied with One Financial Place as the 78th tallest building in Chicago. See also *List of tallest buildings in Chicago ...

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2004-06-09 1200x1600 chicago chicago building

Beginning in the early 1880s, architectural pioneers of the Chicago School explored steel-frame construction and, in the 1890s, the use of large areas of plate glass. These were among the first modern skyscrapers. William LeBaron Jenney's

Home Insurance Building The Home Insurance Building was a skyscraper that stood in Chicago from 1885 to 1931. Originally ten stories and tall, it was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1884 and completed the next year. Two floors were added in 1891, bringing it ...

was completed in 1885 and is considered to be the first to use steel in its structural frame instead of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impu ...

. However, this building was still clad in heavy brick and stone. The Montauk Building, designed by

John Wellborn Root John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891) was an American architect who was based in Chicago with Daniel Burnham. He was one of the founders of the Chicago School style. Two of his buildings have been designated a National ...

Sr. and Daniel Burnham, was built from 1882 to 1883 using structural steel. Daniel Burnham and his partners, John Welborn Root and Charles B. Atwood, designed technically advanced steel frames with glass and terra cotta skins in the mid-1890s, in particular the Reliance Building; these were made possible by professional engineers, in particular E. C. Shankland, and modern contractors, in particular George A. Fuller.

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

discarded historical precedent and designed buildings that emphasized their vertical nature. This new form of architecture, by Jenney, Burnham, Sullivan, and others, became known as the "Commercial Style," but was called the "Chicago School" by later historians. In 1892, the

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...

surpassed the New York World Building, breaking its two-year reign as the tallest skyscraper, only to be surpassed itself two years later by another New York building. Since 1963, a " Second Chicago School" has emerged from the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has pro ...

in Chicago. The ideas of structural engineer Fazlur Khan were also influential in this movement, in particular his introduction of a new structural system of framed tubes in skyscraper design and construction. The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1966. This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers, including his own constructions of the

and

(then named the Sears Tower) in Chicago and can be seen in the construction of the World Trade Center, Petronas Towers, Jin Mao Building, and most other supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s.

would be the

world's tallest building This list of tallest buildings includes skyscrapers with continuously occupiable floors and a height of at least . Non-building structures, such as towers, are not included in this list (for these, see '' List of tallest buildings and structu ...

from its construction in 1974 until 1998 (when the Petronas Towers was built) and would remain the tallest for some categories of buildings until the Burj Khalifa was completed in early 2010.

Landmarks, monuments and public places

View_of_Chicago_Water_Tower_from_the_table_(32580255030)

Numerous architects have constructed landmark buildings of varying styles in Chicago. Among them are the so-called "Chicago seven": James Ingo Freed, Tom Beeby,

Larry Booth The Chicago Seven was a first-generation postmodern group of architects in Chicago. The original Seven were Stanley Tigerman, Larry Booth, Stuart Cohen, Ben Weese, James Ingo Freed, Tom Beeby and James L. Nagle. Motivation Rebelling against the ...

Stuart Cohen The Chicago Seven was a first-generation postmodern group of architects in Chicago. The original Seven were Stanley Tigerman, Larry Booth, Stuart Cohen, Ben Weese, James Ingo Freed, Tom Beeby and James L. Nagle. Motivation Rebelling against th ...

, James Nagle, Stanley Tigerman, and

Ben Weese Benjamin Horace (Ben) Weese (born 1929) in Evanston, Illinois is an American architect hailing from Chicago, and a member of the architects group, the Chicago Seven. Weese is the younger brother of Chicago architect Harry Weese. He received BArc ...

. Daniel Burnham led the design of the "White City" of the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, h ...

which some historians claim led to a revival of Neo-Classical architecture throughout Chicago and the entire United States. Burnham developed the 1909 " Plan for Chicago" in a Neo-Classical style, although many skyscrapers were built after the Exposition closed, between 1894 and 1899.

said that the fair set the course of American architecture back by two decades, but his work the Schlesinger and Meyer (later Carson, Pirie, Scott) store was built in 1899—five years after the "White City" and ten years before Burnham's Plan. Erik Larson's history of the Columbian Exposition, '' The Devil in the White City'', says that the building techniques developed during the construction of the many buildings of the fair were entirely modern, even if they were adorned in a way Sullivan found aesthetically distasteful. Chicago's

public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...

includes outdoor works by Chagall,

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is kn ...

, Miró and

Abakanowicz Abakanowicz is a surname originating from the szlachta of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the Abdank coat of arms in Polish heraldry.A. Boniecki, ''Herbarz polski'', t. 1, Warszawa 1899, s. 17.S. Uruski, ''Rodzina. Herbarz szlachty polski ...

. City sculptures additionally honor people and topics from the history of Chicago. There are monuments to: * Tadeusz Kościuszko by

Kazimierz Chodzinski Kazimierz (; la, Casimiria; yi, קוזמיר, Kuzimyr) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Cr ...

* Nicholas Copernicus by

Bertel Thorvaldsen Bertel Thorvaldsen (; 19 November 1770 – 24 March 1844) was a Danish and Icelandic sculptor medalist of international fame, who spent most of his life (1797–1838) in Italy. Thorvaldsen was born in Copenhagen into a working-class Dani ...

* Karel Havlíček Borovský by Joseph Strachovsky *

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

, several different monuments (including by Czesław Dźwigaj) * Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk by Albin Polasek * Irv Kupcinet by Preston Eugene Jackson *

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

by Augustus Saint Gaudens * The Heald Square Monument featuring George Washington, Haym Salomon, and Robert Morris by Lorado Taft, (completed by Leonard Crunelle) *

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

Carl Brioschi Carl may refer to: * Carl, Georgia, city in USA * Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name * Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of ...

* General John A. Logan by Augustus Saint Gaudens * Harry Caray by Omri Amrany and Lou Cella * Jack Brickhouse by Jerry McKenna * A memorial to the Haymarket affair by

Mary Brogger Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also cal ...

* A memorial to the Great Northern Migration by Alison Saar There are also plans to erect a 1:1-scale replica of Wacław Szymanowski's statue of

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

along Chicago's lakefront. in addition to a different sculpture commemorating the artist in Chopin Park. In the 21st century, Chicago has become an urban focus for

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

and the architecture of public places. 19th-20th century Chicago architects included Burnham, Frederick Olmsted, Jens Jensen and Alfred Caldwell, modern projects include

Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...

, Northerly Island, the 606, the

Chicago Riverwalk The Chicago Riverwalk is a multi-use public space located on the south bank of the main branch of the Chicago River in Chicago, extending from Lake Michigan and Lake Shore Drive westward to Lake Street. The Chicago Riverwalk contains restaurant ...

, Maggie Daley Park, and proposals in Jackson Park.

Residential architecture

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped ...

influenced both building design and the design of furnishings. In the early half of the 20th century, popular residential neighborhoods were developed with Chicago Bungalow style houses, many of which still exist. The two-flat apartment building, along with the larger three- and six-flat buildings, make up 30% of Chicago's housing stock. A two-flat includes two apartments, each of which occupies a full floor, usually with a large bay window and with a grey stone or red brick facade. The apartments typically have the same layout with a large living and dining room area at the front, the kitchen at the back and the bedrooms running down one side of the unit. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's

campus in Chicago influenced the later Modern or International style. Van der Rohe's work is sometimes called the Second Chicago School.

Preservation

Many organizations, including Preservation Chicago and Landmarks Illinois, promote the preservation of historic neighborhoods and buildings in Chicago. Chicago has suffered from the same problems with sinking property values and

urban decline Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

as other major cities. Many historic structures have been threatened with demolition.

Timeline of notable buildings

1836–1900 * 1836 Henry B. Clarke House * 1869 Chicago Water Tower, William W. Boyington * 1874 Second Presbyterian Church 1936 S. Michigan, James Renwick 1900 Howard Van Doren Shaw Second_Presbyterian_Church_Chicago_IL

* 1877 St. Stanislaus Kostka Church 1327 N. Noble, Patrick Keely * 1882–1883 Montauk Building, Daniel Burnham and

. First building to be called a "skyscraper." (Demolished, 1902) * 1885

, Chicago School, William Le Baron Jenney (Demolished, 1931) Home Insurance Building

* 1885 Palmer Mansion, early Romanesque and Norman

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, Henry Ives Cobb and Charles Sumner Frost (Demolished, 1950) * 1886 John J. Glessner House, Henry Hobson Richardson * 1887 Marshall Field Warehouse, Henry Hobson Richardson (Demolished, 1930) * 1888 Rookery Building, Daniel Burnham and

, 1905 lobby redesign by

* 1889 Monadnock Building, Daniel Burnham and

* 1889 Auditorium Building,

and Dankmar Adler. * 1889 St. Mary of Perpetual Help Church, Henry Engelbert * 1890 and 1894–1895 Reliance Building, Charles B. Atwood of Burnham & Root * 1890–1899

Gage Group Buildings The Gage Group Buildings consist of three buildings located at 18, 24 and 30 S. Michigan Avenue, between Madison Street and Monroe Street, in Chicago, Illinois. They were built from 1890–1899, designed by Holabird & Roche for the three mill ...

, Holabird & Roche with

* 1891 Manhattan Building, William Le Baron Jenney * 1892

, Daniel Burnham and

(Demolished, 1939) * 1892–1893

, Daniel Burnham, director of Works * 1893 Palace of Fine Arts, later Museum of Science and Industry, Beaux-Arts, Charles B. Atwood * 1893-1898 St. John Cantius Church, Alphonsus Druiding * 1894 Tree Studio Building and Annexes, Judge Lambert & Anne Tree via Parfitt Brothers; 1912 annex: Hill and Woltersdorf * 1895–1896 Fisher Building (Chicago), D.H. Burnham & Company, Charles B. Atwood * 1897 St. Paul Church 2234 S. Hoyne,

Henry Schlacks Henry John Schlacks (July 4, 1867 – January 6, 1938) was primarily known as an ecclesiologist in a 19th Century sense of the word, meaning one who designs and decorates churches. He was from Chicago, Illinois, and is considered by many to be t ...

* 1897 Chicago Library (now Chicago Cultural Center), Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge * 1899

Sullivan Center The Sullivan Center, formerly known as the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building or Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Store, is a commercial building at 1 South State Street at the corner of East Madison Street in Chicago, Illinois. Louis ...

; 1905–1906, twelve-story south addition, D.H. Burnham & Company 1900-1939: * 1902 Marshall Field and Company Building, north State Street building D.H. Burnham & Company, Charles B. Atwood * 1903 Holy Trinity Cathedral, Chicago * 1905-1906 Holy Trinity Polish Mission, Herman Olszewski and William G. Krieg, * 1905 Chicago Federal Building, Henry Ives Cobb * 1906

Sears Merchandise Building Tower Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

, George G. Nimmons - William K. Fellows * 1907 Marshall Field and Company Building, south State Street building D.H. Burnham & Company, Charles B. Atwood * 1909 Robie House,

* 1910-1911 Eighth Church of Christ, Scientist, Leon E. Stanhope. Designated a Chicago Landmark on June 9, 1993. * 1912-1914 St. Adalbert's Church 1650 W.17th street,

* 1912 Medinah Temple North Wabash Avenue * 1912 Pulaski Park fieldhouse by Jens Jensen * 1914 Navy Pier * 1914-1920 St. Mary of the Angels Church 1850 N. Hermitage Ave, Worthmann and Steinbach * 1915 Holy Cross Church, Joseph Molitor * 1916 Navy Pier Auditorium, Charles Sumner Frost * 1917–1920

Michigan Avenue Bridge The DuSable Bridge (formerly the Michigan Avenue Bridge) is a bascule bridge that carries Michigan Avenue across the main stem of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States. The bridge was proposed in the early 20th century as ...

, Edward H. Bennett * 1917-1921 Basilica of St. Hyacinth 3636 West Wolfram Avenue, Worthmann & Steinbach * 1919-1924 Wrigley Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White * 1921 Chicago Theatre, Beaux-Arts, Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp * 1921

Old Chicago Main Post Office The Old Chicago Main Post Office is a nine-story-tall building in downtown Chicago. The original building was designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and built in 1921, but the structure was expanded greatly in 1932 in order to serve C ...

, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White * 1922 Tribune Tower, neo-Gothic, John Mead Howells and Raymond M. Hood Tribune_Tower3

* 1924 Soldier Field, Holabird & Roche; extensive renovation 2003, Ben Wood and Carlos Zapata * 1925 Uptown Theatre, Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp * 1927 Pittsfield Building,

Graham, Anderson, Probst and White Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (GAP&W) was a Chicago architectural firm that was founded in 1912 as Graham, Burnham & Co. This firm was the successor to D. H. Burnham & Co. through Daniel Burnham's surviving partner, Ernest R. Graham, and Burn ...

* 1929

Carbide & Carbon Building The Carbide & Carbon Building is a 37-story, landmark Art Deco high rise built in 1929, located on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. It was converted to a hotel in 2004. History The building was designed by the Burnham Brothers (the firm launched ...

, Daniel and Hubert Burnham, sons of Daniel Burnham * 1929 Palmolive Building,

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

, Holabird & Root * 1929 John G. Shedd Aquarium, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White * 1930 Chicago Board of Trade Building, Holabird & Root * 1930 All Saints Cathedral, J. G. Steinbach * 1930 Gateway Theatre Mason Rapp of Rapp & Rapp; extensive renovation 1979 to 1984, "Solidarity Tower" addition in 1985 * 1930 Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Ernest A. Grunsfeld, Jr. * 1931 Merchandise Mart, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White * 1930s-1960s

, including S.R. Crown Hall, Second Chicago School, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The firm ...

* 1934 Field Building, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White 1940 to the present: * 1940-1942 St. Wenceslaus church, 3400 N. Monticello Ave, McCarthy, Smith and Eppig * 860-880_Lake_Shore_Drive

1952 860–880 Lake Shore Drive, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe * 1957 Inland Steel Building, Bruce Graham and

Walter Netsch Walter A. Netsch (February 23, 1920 – June 15, 2008) was an American architect based in Chicago. He was most closely associated with the brutalist style of architecture as well as with the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. His signature aes ...

, * 1964 Marina City, Bertrand Goldberg * 1968 Lake Point Tower, John Heinrich and

George Schipporeit George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

* 1968 Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist.

Harry Weese Harry Mohr Weese (June 30, 1915 – October 29, 1998) was an American architect who had an important role in 20th century modernism and historic preservation. His brother, Ben Weese, is also a renowned architect. Early life and education Harry ...

* 1969

, Bruce Graham,

* 1973

330 North Wabash 330 North Wabash (formerly IBM Plaza also known as IBM Building and now renamed AMA Plaza) is a skyscraper in downtown Chicago, Illinois, United States, at 330 N. Wabash Avenue, designed by the architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (who died in 1 ...

, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe * 1974

, Bruce Graham,

(''previously the Sears Tower'') * 1974 Aon Center, Edward Durrell Stone (''earlier names were Standard Oil Building and Amoco Building'') * 1977

St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church is a Ukrainian church located in Chicago and belonging to the St. Nicholas Eparchy for the Ukrainian Catholics. The building has an ultra-modern roof, comprising thirteen gold domes which s ...

* 1979-85

James R. Thompson Center The James R. Thompson Center (JRTC), originally the State of Illinois Center, is a postmodern-style civic building designed by architect Helmut Jahn, located at 100 W. Randolph Street in the Loop district of Chicago. It houses offices of the Il ...

, Helmut Jahn * 1989

NBC Tower __NOTOC__ The NBC Tower is an office tower on the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address for the building) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. ...

* 1990 American Medical Association Building, Kenzo Tange * 1990

Athletic Club Illinois Center Athletic may refer to: * An athlete, a sportsperson * Athletic director, a position at many American universities and schools * Athletic type, a physical/psychological type in the classification of Ernst Kretschmer * Athletic of Philadelphia, a ba ...

, Kisho Kurokawa * 1991 Harold Washington Library Center,

Thomas Beeby Thomas H. Beeby (born 1941) is an American architect who was a member of the "Chicago Seven" architects and has been Chairman Emeritus of Hammond, Beeby, Rupert, Ainge Architects (HBRA) for over thirty-nine years. He is a representative of New U ...

* 1991

Guaranteed Rate Field Guaranteed Rate Field is a baseball stadium located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It serves as the home stadium of the Chicago White Sox, one of the city's two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, and is owned by the state ...

, Home of the White Sox * 1991

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

Josef Paul Kleihues Josef Paul Kleihues (11 June 1933, Rheine – 13 August 2004, Berlin) was a German architect, most notable for his decades long contributions to the "critical reconstruction" of Berlin. His design approach has been described as "poetic rationalist" ...

* 1992

77 West Wacker Drive 77 West Wacker Drive, previously the United Building, is an American office building in the Loop, Chicago. Finished in 1992, the building rises to a height of 668 ft (204 m) with around of interior space.Ricardo Bofill * 2004

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considere ...

, Kathryn Gustafson, Anish Kapoor, Jaume Plensa, and others, a showcase for 21st century modernism. * 2009

155 North Wacker 155 North Wacker is a 48-story skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois designed by Goettsch Partners and was developed by the John Buck Company.Goettsch Partners * 2009

Trump International Hotel and Tower Trump International Hotel may refer to: Current Five buildings are named Trump Hotels with four owned/operated by the Trump organization: * Trump International Hotel and Tower (Chicago) * Trump International Hotel and Tower (New York City) * Tru ...

* 2010 Aqua Tower, Studio Gang Architects * 2019 NEMA, Rafael Viñoly Architects * 2019 One Bennett Park, Robert A.M. Stern Architects * 2020

110 North Wacker 110 North Wacker, also known as the Bank of America Tower, is a 57-floor skyscraper in Chicago located at 110 North Wacker Drive. It was developed by the Howard Hughes Corporation and Riverside Investment & Development. It was designed by Goetts ...

, Goettsch Partners * 2021

St. Regis Chicago The St. Regis Chicago, formerly Wanda Vista Tower, is a 101-story, supertall skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. Construction started in August 2016, and was completed in 2020. Upon completion it became List of tallest buildings in Chicago, the city ...

, Studio Gang Architects

Styles and schools

Chicago architects used many design styles and belonged to a variety of architectural schools. Below is a list of those styles and schools. *

American Four-Square The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass-produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last ...

Moderne Moderne may refer to: * Moderne architecture, styles of architecture popular from 1925–1940s * PWA Moderne, an architectural style in the U.S., 1933–1944 * Streamline Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco archit ...

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

* Arts & Crafts * Chateauesque * Chicago School (Also called Commercial Style) * City Beautiful *Classical Revival (also known as

Neoclassical architecture Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

) *

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

*Craftsman (also known as

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. ...

) * Dutch Colonial * Eastlake/Stick *

Edwardian architecture Edwardian architecture is a Neo-Baroque architectural style that was popular in the British Empire during the Edwardian era (1901–1910). Architecture up to the year 1914 may also be included in this style. Description Edwardian architecture ...

* Gothic Revival * Greek Revival * International (sometimes called Second Chicago School) *

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italia ...

*Middle Eastern * Modern *Oriental *

Postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

* Queen Anne *Renaissance Revival also known as

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...

* Romanesque Revival also known as Neo-Romanesque * Second Empire *Spanish Revival also known as Spanish Colonial Revival *Sullivanesque (for style elements and examples see

) * Tudor Revival *Workers Cottage

Buildings - a "Top Forty" List

In 2010, '' Chicago Magazine'' selected 40 still existing properties for their historical and architectural importance,'' Chicago Magazine'
Top 40 Buildings in Chicago
/ref> opening an on-line forum for debate. The top ten chosen were: *1:

, 875 N. Michigan Ave. (1969) *2: Rookery Building, 209 S. LaSalle St. (1885–1888) *3: 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments, (1952) *4: Monadnock Building, 53 W. Jackson Blvd. (1891 and 1893) *5: Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building, 1 S. State St. (1899) *6:

S. R. Crown Hall S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-American Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. History Before the building of Crown Hall, th ...

, 3360 S. State St. (1956) *7: Auditorium Building, 430 S. Michigan Ave. (1889) *8: Frederick C. Robie House, 5757 S. Woodlawn Ave. (1909) *9: Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois), 14520 River Rd., Plano, IL (1951) *10: Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower), 233 S. Wacker Dr. (1974)

Notes

References

* *

External links

Online tour of designated Chicago landmarks

Walking architectural tours of Chicago

Chicago Church Architecture

American Institute of Architects

Chicago Architects Project - Society of Architectural Historians
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