The CIBC Theatre opened in 1906 under the name Majestic Theatre as Chicago's first $1 million venue and home to legendary vaudeville acts. The CIBC currently seats 1,800 and routinely presents Broadway shows, notably since a substantial renovation in 2006; its most recent claim to fame involves producing the smash hit, "Hamilton." The Majestic name comes from the twenty-one floor skyscraper for which it resides. When the building opened in 1905, it stood as the city's tallest building. Today, the CIBC and the Hampton Inn Majestic Hotel occupy the tower. Over the years, the theater has operated under several names such as the PrivateBank Theatre, Bank of America Theatre, LaSalle Bank Theatre, and, from 1945 - 2005, the Sam Shubert Theatre.
Originally known as “The Palmer,” the Palmer House Hilton Hotel has been one of the city's most important places for events and welcoming guests from the day the establishment opened its doors on September 26, 1871. The original Palmer hotel greeted only a few guests, however, as it was destroyed by fire 13 days later--one of hundreds of buildings destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire on October 9, 1871. The second Palmer House was completed in 1875. The third and final Palmer House was built between 1923 and 1925 and was acquired by Conrad Hilton in 1945. Thor Equities acquired the Palmer House Hilton in 2005 and announced its intention to sell the historic property in 2015.
The Pritzker Military Museum and Library feature a collection of books and other materials on military history and citizen soldiers in America with a mission to increase understanding of military history and sacrifice. The museum houses a collection of prints, posters, photos, artifacts that cover early war and conflicts, 20th-century war and conflicts, modern war and conflicts, military reading lists, military leaders, and the armed forces, as well as a permanent exhibit called Medal of Honor. The museum also prides itself on being "a public forum to discuss the past, present, and future of the military." Admission is $5 or free for any member or person with an active military ID.
The Chicago Athletic Association (CAA) opened in 1893 in congruence with the World’s Fair being held in Chicago. Designed by Henry Ives Cobb to feature crisscrossing arches that mimic the extravagant palace of the Doge in Venice, the 11-storied building is often described as Venetian Gothic. The Chicago Athletic Association catered to the city’s most elite men, such as Marshall Field, William Wrigley, Jr., AG Spaulding, and Cyrus McCormick. The CAA closed its doors in 2007 after 114 years in operation. Then in 2012, the building was purchased for $13 million by AJ Capital Partners, Agman Partners, and Geolo Capital. The partners hired Hartshorne Plunkard Architects and interior architects Roman + Williams to meticulously restore and modernize the CAA into a 241-room luxury hotel. The Chicago Athletic Association Hotel is currently one of the premier adaptive reuse projects in the city of Chicago.
The Haskell-Barker-Atwater Buildings are three neighboring post-Great Fire buildings situated on the east side of Chicago's Loop District. The three buildings were constructed between 1875 and 1877 and designed in the Italianate style, which gained popularity after the Civil War. Frederick Haskell and John Barker, railroad car manufacturers, owned the buildings at 18-20 and 22-24 S. Wabash and commissioned the architectural firm of Wheelock & Thomas to erect the two four-story mercantile loft buildings. On the southern end of the Haskell-Barker Buildings is the Atwater Building. Built in 1877 by John Mills Van Osdel, Chicago’s first registered architect, for John P. Atwater, this five-story building housed the A. G. Spalding & Bros. sporting goods store. Largely considered one unit, as the majority of the post-fire buildings are now, the Haskell-Barker-Atwater Buildings were designated a Chicago Landmark in 1996 since the buildings are considered one of the best representations of Chicago’s transitional period between the Great Fire and the skyscraper boom at the end of the century.
Constructed between 1881-1882, the Jewelers Building at 15-17 S. Wabash Ave. remains the only surviving example of Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan's early work in Chicago's Loop District. Martin Ryerson, Chicago businessman and real estate investor, commissioned Adler & Sullivan to construct this building, which he rented to the Samuel A. Maxwell Company. Sullivan, often regarded as the "father of the skyscraper," provided his unique stylized floral, ornamental style to the building. During the early-20th-century, the building became known as the Little Jewelers Building, likely to differentiate between the larger Jewelers Building constructed on Wacker Street. The Little Jewelers Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 7, 1974 and designated a Chicago Landmark on December 18, 1981.
The Reliance building was erected as one of the world's first steel-frame skyscrapers in 1895. Designed by the famous Burnham and Root architectural firm, the building was built in two stages because the tenants living on the top floors of the existing building at this location refused to leave until their lease expired. In response, the engineers used jack screws which held up the top floors while construction began on the lower floors. Construction began in 1891 and the building stood fourteen stories when it was completed. Until the Great Depression, doctors and other medical professionals leased offices in the building; afterwards, the Reliance Building began to fall into disrepair until the mid-1990s when a major renovation occurred. Today, the Reliance Building serves as a boutique hotel, the Alise Chicago
The Marshall Field & Company Store first occupied this site in 1868. The current building was constructed in stages between 1892 and 1907. It has been a prominent feature of Chicago’s State Street ever since, with its Tiffany mosaic ceiling, the Walnut Room restaurant (the oldest in the US), and iconic clocks protruding over the sidewalk. The success of Marshall Field’s can be attributed to its progressive approach to customer service. It was the first major store to offer in-store dining, encourage merchandise browsing, employ women, and offer money-back guarantees. In 2006, the building was rebranded as Macy’s to public outrage, which perhaps demonstrates the strong nostalgia and sense of ownership that native Chicagoans feel about this beautiful historic downtown landmark.
The Chicago Theatre is one of the city’s most iconic landmarks and provides the “unofficial” emblem of the city. Designed by Rapp and Rapp in their famous Neo-Baroque French Revival style, the theatre served as the flagship for the Balaban and Katz theatre group. The famous marquee is one of the most famous and recognized in the world. Meticulously designed with every emphasis placed on luxury, for the next 40 years, the Chicago Theatre served as the premier entertainment venue for the city. As with most historic theatres, the rise of duplex theatres during the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the decline of the Chicago Theatre. In the mid-80s, the Chicago Theatre Restoration Associates purchased and commenced a multi-million dollar renovation on the building, reopening the venue on September 10, 1986. The Chicago Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 6, 1979 and designated as a Chicago Landmark on January 28, 1983.
The Page Brothers Building in Chicago represents a transition for Chicago, both in its local history and architectural history. Erected in 1872 as the first commercial construction after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the building features a cast-iron facade facing Lake Street and stands as the oldest remaining structure of its kind in the city. Not long afterwards, State Street supplanted Lake Street - even growing to become one of Chicago's most noteworthy locations. As well, the Chicago School of Architecture grew famous for no-longer building small five-story cast-iron buildings, but instead pushed the envelope and usher in the age of the skyscraper. The Page Brothers Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 5, 1975 and designated a Chicago Landmark on January 28, 1983.
The Iroquois Theatre opened at this location on November 27, 1903. Less than one month later, the theater was the site of the most fatal single-building fire in United States history. During a matinee performance on December 30, 1903, a spark from a stage light started a fire that spread quickly throughout the structure. In the resulting inferno, over 600 people perished, mostly women and children who had been enjoying a holiday break. The staggering loss of life was largely blamed on fire code violations such as locked exits, hidden exit signs, and no fire alarm or sprinkler system. The Iroquois Theatre fire was a nation-wide wake-up call to the importance of fire safety. The Iroquois Theatre fire resulted in new regulations and inventions such as “panic bar” doors that exist today to prevent a similar tragedy. The Iroquois Theatre was replaced by the Oriental Theatre in 1926 which now operates as the Nederlander Theater.
The James M. Nederlander Theatre originally opened as the Oriental Theatre in 1926. Owned by Balaban and Katz, the theatre was one of Chicago’s grand movie palaces of the Roaring ‘20s. It was designed by Rapp and Rapp, an architectural firm known for outlandish, almost gaudy designs; the interior was inspired by an East Asian theme, with mosaics, exotic animals, and golden figures. The Oriental Theatre showed movies and hosted live performances until it closed in 1981. The building remained largely vacant for several years, finally undergoing an extensive renovation project in the mid-1990s. The theatre reopened in 1998 as the Ford Center for Performing Arts. In 2019, it was renamed the James M. Nederlander Theatre.
Completed in 1874, the Delaware Building remains one of the few remaining buildings inside Chicago's Loop District that date to the period immediately following the Great Fire. The Bryant Block, as it was first known, was designed in the Italianate style by one of Chicago's earliest architectural firms, Wheelock and Thomas. The building originally stood at five stories, but the 1889 remodel added two more stories and redesigned the bottom two stories in an effort to make the building more competitive. It was during this time that the building became known as the Real Estate Board Building. On July 18, 1974, the now-known Delaware Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a Chicago Landmark on November 23, 1983.
Located in the historic Loop of Downtown Chicago, the Daley Civic Center opened in 1966 and hosts various family friendly events. During the summer, the building's plaza regularly hosts various farmer's markets and ethnic festivals. It also hosts the city's famous Christmas tree every year.
Located in the Loop district of Chicago, this sculpture was designed by Joan Miró in 1979 and originally named The Sun, the Moon, and One Star. The Brunswick Corporation originally commissioned a sculpture from Miró in 1969. However, they decided not to go forward with the project due to the cost. The first female Mayor of Chicago, Jane Byrne, agreed to fund 50% of the project in 1979. Miró decided to donate his design to the city, thus making the cost more manageable. A number of organizations and individuals covered the other fifty percent. The sculpture was unveiled in 1981.
Situated in front of the Chase Tower Plaza, Marc Chagall's "Four Seasons" mosaic is one of the most dazzling landmarks in Chicago's bustling Loop district. Stretching 70 feet in length and wrapping around a rectangular support, Chagall's mosaic was dedicated in 1974, a gift to the city from banking giant Frederick H. Prince. Twenty years after its dedication, the mosaic underwent extensive restoration, including the addition of a protective canopy to shield the installation from the elements.
Completed in 1958, the Inland Steel Building was the first modern glass skyscraper erected in downtown Chicago since 1934, during the interwar period. Built with dynamic stainless steel and glass curtain walls, Miesian-inspired exposed structural frame and unobstructed office floors, the Inland Steel Building demonstrated the significant gains made during the war and post-war years and represented a new boom in Chicago skyscraper construction. Meanwhile, the name points to the building's occupant, Inland Steel, reminding us of a time when the American steel industry flourished.
Built in 1895 by the George A. Fuller Company, this Chicago landmark was one of the first steel-framed skyscrapers in the city. The building was named in honor of the French missionary Jacques Marquette, who with Louis Jolliet in 1674, became the first European to explorer and map the lands around Lake Michigan. The building was served as corporate headquarters to numerous railroad companies and other businesses over the years. During the mid-20th century, some of the historic buildings throughout the Loop such as Louis Sullivan's Stock Exchange were demolished in favor of new construction. The Marquette Building, like so many of the other historic buildings throughout the Loop, was saved due to the efforts of preservationists and community members who partnered with local government and business leaders. Since 1975, the building has been owned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a leading supporter of education that is also working with the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois to restore and share the history of this building. The Foundation operates an interactive exhibit on the building's first floor that is open to the public, as well as virtual exhibits that are available by clicking on the link below.
Calder’s Flamingo is an abstract sculpture by Alexander Calder that was installed in its current location in 1974. Measuring more than 50 feet tall, it rests in the rectangular plaza boarded by three federal Bauhaus style buildings in the heart of Chicago. This “sculpture’s vivid color and curvilinear form contrast dramatically with the angular steel and glass surroundings. However, Flamingo is constructed from similar materials and shares certain design principles with the architecture, thereby achieving successful integration within the plaza” (“Calder’s Flamingo”). The sculpture’s monumental size and open design allows visitors to walk under and through the sculpture. A reduced scale model of the sculpture is housed in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Located in the Loop District of Chicago, the Monadnock building, originally known as the Monadnock Block, is a skyscraper whose construction began in 1891. The oldest section of the building, the north half, was designed by the architectural firm Burnham and Root and was the tallest load-bearing brick building in the world. The southern half of the building was designed by Holabird and Roche in 1893 and features more ornamental design elements. At the time of its completion in 1893, the Monadnock Building was the largest office building in the world.
Built in 1896, the Fisher Building stands as a reminder of the early influence of the Chicago School of Architecture and the subsequent emergence of the skyscraper. When completed, the Fisher Building was one of the tallest buildings in the world. Commissioned by paper tycoon Lucius Fisher, president of the Union Bag and Paper, it is located just north of the historic Printer's Row in Chicago. A 2001 renovation and restoration of the Fisher Building ostensibly converted it from an industrial space to that of residential use.
At the time of its completion in 1891, Chicago’s Manhattan Building was one of the most innovative buildings of the era. Designed by William Le Baron Jenney, he sought to push the limits of building height during a time when the traditional practices of architecture were being questioned and experiments with new designs and ideas began taking shape. At that time, constructing a building at such a height of 16-stories was generally thought to be unsafe. To remedy that concern, Jenney designed the Manhattan Building to feature horizontal sections and setbacks which creates an allusion of a shorter building. Today, the Manhattan Building is the third-oldest skyscraper in Chicago and is the earliest surviving skyscraper relying on an entirely steel skeletal support structure.
Chicago’s Chinatown is a major attraction in the city, but a lesser-known, earlier Chinatown was once located even closer to downtown and within the Loop. As early as the 1870s, Chinese Americans began arriving in Chicago from the West Coast of the US. They set up businesses such as tea houses, restaurants, dry goods stores, and laundry shops along South Clark Street, clustering near Van Buren Street. By the late 1910s, many of the city’s Chinese residents were pushed out of the neighborhood through racial discriminatory practices. Today, almost nothing remains of the Old Chinatown that was once occupied by the earliest Chinese Chicagoans.
Built in 1914, the seventeen-story Fort Dearborn Hotel arrived when Chicago's population had reached two million. The immense population and economic boom resulted in many business travelers passing through, and the Fort Dearborn Hotel catered to those clients.
The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a skyscraper located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It stands powerfully as a gateway to the city's financial district, at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon, in the Loop community area in Cook County. Originally built for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in 1930, it is now the primary trading venue for the derivatives exchange, the CME Group, formed in 2007 by the merger of the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This 45-story edifice was designed by the distinguished architectural firm of Holabird & Root. Designed in “Art Deco” style, clad in gray Indiana limestone, capped with a pyramid-shaped roof, this 605 ft (184 m) tall skyscraper was the tallest building in Chicago until 1965. It serves as the southern border for the skyscrapers hugging LaSalle Street and is taller than surrounding structures for several blocks. This Art Deco building incorporates sculptural work by Alvin Meyer and is capped by a 31 foot (9.5 m) tall aluminum statue of the Roman goddess “Ceres” - Goddess of Grain and Harvest, in reference to the exchange's heritage as a commodity market. Ceres is faceless because its sculptor, John H. Storrs (one of the leading 1920s sculptors) , believed that the forty-five story building would be sufficiently taller than any other nearby structure, and as a result no one would be able to see the sculpture's face anyway.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, also known as the Chicago Fed, began operations on November 16, 1914. At the time, James B. McDougal served as the president of the Chicago Fed and oversaw the bank's 41 employees. However, the bank soon outgrew its space in the Rector Building at Clark and Monroe. The Chicago Fed's Board of Directors commissioned the architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White to construct the current building at South LaSalle Street. Completed in 1922, the Chicago Fed has remained at this building since. The Board of Governors in Washington, DC and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago serve together as the nation’s central bank.
The twenty-one story building (1911-14) served as the home to the Continental and Commercial National Bank, which grew to become one of the most influential banks in the nation at the time when Chicago's banks proved integral to the nation's economy. The massive bank also comprised one entire city block, an imposing stricture to match its economic influence. As well, the building is one of the last buildings designed by famed architect Daniel Burnham.
Designed for the Central Safety Deposit Company by John Wellborn Root and Daniel Burnham, of the architectural firm Burnham & Root, and completed in 1888, the Rookery is one of Chicago’s most elegant and revered buildings. At the time of its completion, the Rookery was one of the tallest buildings in the world. Originally standing at eleven stories, the building is considered a precursor of the modern high-rise due to its innovative construction methods that combined steel, iron, and masonry. By 1905, Edward C. Waller, the building’s manager, sought to update and modernize the building’s interior and hired Frank Lloyd Wright. Considered one of Wright’s most luxurious interiors, he transformed the interior of the Rookery into a bright marbled and gold light court. While other alternations occurred to the building since Wright’s interior update, the architectural integrity of the building remains today thanks to a major renovation during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Rookery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, designated as a Chicago Landmark in 1972, and designated as a National Historic Landmark on May 15, 1975.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This walking tour includes over two dozen historically significant Chicago buildings and landmarks in the heart fo the Loop. The tour starts on La Salle Street and follows Dearborn, State, and Michigan Avenue.
