Historic Chicago Buildings

50 buildings, from Union Station and the Auditorium Building to the Loop towers, State Street, the river and North Michigan Avenue.

• The Rookery: Chicago's Office Building Between Two Architectural Ages
• Chicago Cultural Center: How a Public Library Became the People's Palace
• Why Does Tribune Tower Look Like a Medieval Tower?
• The Wrigley Building: A Chewing-Gum Company Gives Michigan Avenue a Landmark
• Willis Tower: The Engineering Behind Chicago's Sears Tower
• The Marquette Building: Chicago's Steel Skyscraper and the Story in Its Lobby
• The Monadnock Building: Chicago's Last Great Masonry Skyscraper
• The Reliance Building: Chicago's Glass Skyscraper, Built in Two Stages
• Chicago Union Station: Burnham's Plan and the Great Hall
• The Auditorium Building: Adler & Sullivan's Theater, Hotel and Office Tower
• The Chicago Board of Trade Building: The Art Deco Tower at the End of LaSalle Street
• Marshall Field and Company Building: How a State Street Department Store Became a Landmark
• The Carbide & Carbon Building: Chicago's Green and Gold Art Deco Tower
• The Merchandise Mart: How Marshall Field Built the World's Largest Building
• The Palmer House: Chicago's Wedding-Gift Hotel and Its Troubled Ownership
• Why Does the John Hancock Center Have a Giant X on Its Side?
• Marina City: The Corncob Towers and Chicago's City Within a City
• The Chicago Theatre: How a 1921 Movie Palace Became the City's Marquee
• The Art Institute of Chicago Building: A World's Fair Hall That Became a Museum
• The Chicago Water Tower: The Limestone Landmark That Survived the Fire
• The Green Mill: What Is Documented About Uptown's Jazz Club and the Gangsters, and What Is Legend
• The Biograph Theater: The Lincoln Avenue Movie House Where John Dillinger Was Shot
• Why Is the Civic Opera Building Shaped Like a Giant Chair?
• The Robie House: How Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Masterpiece Escaped Demolition
• Harold Washington Library Center: Chicago's Owl-Topped Central Library
• Sullivan Center: Louis Sullivan's Last Great Store, From Schlesinger & Mayer to Target
• The Griffin Museum of Science and Industry: The White City's Last Palace
• Navy Pier: From Municipal Pier to the People's Pier
• The Field Museum: From Fair Leftovers to a Marble Palace on the Lakefront
• The Chicago Federal Center: Mies van der Rohe's Plaza, and the Courthouse Where the Government Got Capone
• The Old Chicago Main Post Office: From Mail-Order Giant to Gensler Rebirth
• The Drake Hotel: A Century at the Top of the Magnificent Mile
• 35 East Wacker: The Jewelers Building and Its Elevators for Cars
• Soldier Field: A Century of Crowds on the Lakefront, and an Uncertain Home Game
• Thalia Hall: Pilsen's Bohemian Opera House, Silent for Decades and Loud Again
• Wrigley Field: The 1914 Ballpark That Outlived Its Own League
• Pullman: The Factory Town George Pullman Built, and the Strike That Ended It
• 2120 South Michigan Avenue: The Little Building Where Chess Records Cut the Blues
• The Home Insurance Building: Chicago's 'First Skyscraper' and the Plaque It Left Behind
• The Thompson Center: Helmut Jahn's Glass Machine, Saved by Google
• The London Guarantee Building: An Insurance Palace Above the River That Became LondonHouse
• The Uptown Theatre: Chicago's Biggest Movie Palace, Closed Since 1981 and Waiting for Its Second Act
• The Manhattan Building: Jenney's 16-Story Skeleton That Proved the Skyscraper
• The Railway Exchange Building: Burnham's White Tower Above Grant Park
• The Fisher Building: Burnham's Gothic Tower, Covered in Terra-Cotta Fish
• Aqua Tower: Jeanne Gang's Waves of Concrete Above Lakeshore East
• The Medinah Athletic Club: The Shriners' Palace That Became the InterContinental
• Lake Point Tower: The Curve at the Edge of the Lake
• 860-880 Lake Shore Drive: Mies van der Rohe's Glass Houses
• The Fine Arts Building: From Carriage Factory to Artists' Colony