The City Hall of Chicago occupies an entire city block, defined by its massive granite exterior and a row of colossal Corinthian columns that rise toward the roofline. Inside this limestone frame, the building houses the offices of the…
LaSalle Street Financial Canyon
Walk down the dramatic architectural gorge of LaSalle Street, the historic engine of Chicago's economic power, and see the soaring towers where massive fortunes were won and lost.
Listen to this tour in the Mira app →
1. City of Chicago - City Hall
2. 1 N. LaSalle Building
The one North LaSalle building rises forty-nine stories in a tapered silhouette of white terra cotta. Completed in nineteen thirty, it occupies the former site of the Tacoma Building, the world’s first skyscraper to use a complete steel…
3. Northern Trust
The Northern Trust building at the corner of LaSalle and Monroe stands out for the massive, fluted limestone columns that frame its entrance. Byron Laflin Smith founded the bank in eighteen eighty-nine in a single room with a handful of…
4. Field Building
The Field Building occupies the ground where the first Fort Dearborn stood before the eighteen seventy-one fire. Its limestone facade rises in a sharp, tapered profile, reaching forty-five stories toward the skyline. During the Great…
5. The Rookery Building
The Rookery Building wears a massive, two-story oriel window of iron and glass that hangs over the corner of LaSalle and Adams. It replaced a temporary city hall that stood here after the Great Chicago Fire. When architects John Wellborn…
6. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago occupies a heavy, gray limestone block on LaSalle Street, defined by its massive, two-story Corinthian columns that look more like an ancient temple than a financial institution. Inside the vault,…
7. Wintrust Building
The Wintrust Building sits on the corner of LaSalle and Monroe, distinguished by a massive, two-story tall arched entryway carved from rusticated granite. Originally built in nineteen oh six as the Chicago Savings Bank, the structure…
8. Chicago Board of Trade Building
The Chicago Board of Trade Building anchors the end of LaSalle Street with its dark, jagged limestone facade and the three-story bronze statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, perched at the peak. Built in nineteen thirty during…