DK Travel : Chicago : The Loop : Architectural Sites

Top 10 Architectural Sites

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1. Monadnock Building

At 16 stories, this Holabird and Roche designed building (1891) is one of the world’s tallest all-masonry high-rises. Inside, there’s a magnificent wrought-iron staircase.
2. Marquette Building

Holabird and Roche also built this 1894 Chicago School structure with a steel skeleton and decorative ornamentation.
3. Reliance Building

Daniel H. Burnham’s stunning glass-and-white-glazed-terra-cotta building (1895) is now the Hotel Burnham.
4. Fisher Building

Another Chicago School edifice with a steel structure, this 1896 neo-Gothic building is also by Daniel H. Burnham. Aquatic motifs on the façade honor the building’s first owner, L. G. Fisher.
5. Carson Pirie Scott Building

Eye-catching cast-iron swirls on part of the exterior of this store (1899 & 1903) express architect Louis H. Sullivan’s love of elaborate detail (see Carson Pirie Scott & Co.).
6. Santa Fe Center

Daniel H. Burnham designed this elegant high-rise in 1904: its carved building signs are from Chicago’s days as a railroad hub. The ground level houses the Chicago Architecture Foundation (see Chicago Architecture Foundation Shop).
7. Chicago Theater

The red marquee of this Beaux Arts-style theater is a symbol of Chicago. Built in 1921, today it is a concert and performance venue.
8. One North LaSalle

This 1930-built, 49-story building was Chicago’s tallest for 35 years, and is one of the city’s best surviving examples of Art Deco architecture.
9. Inland Steel Building

One of the first skyscrapers to be built (in 1957) on steel, not concrete, pilings. It predated the John Hancock building (see John Hancock Center) in using external supports.
10. Federal Center

Flanked by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s federal buildings, this plaza (1959–74) contains Alexander Calder’s striking statue Flamingo (1974).