The Fisher Building is a narrow eighteen-story tower wrapped in a creamy white terra-cotta skin. When it opened in eighteen ninety-six, architects Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root used a steel frame to support the structure, a daring…
Loop Gothic Architecture
We'll search for hidden gargoyles, soaring spires, and intricate medieval details woven into the steel and concrete of Chicago's iconic Loop skyscrapers.
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1. Fisher Building Apartments
2. Chicago Temple Building
The Chicago Temple Building rises twenty-two stories to a dramatic Gothic spire that reaches five hundred sixty-eight feet above the sidewalk. This is the home of the First United Methodist Church, which holds the title of the tallest…
3. Pittsfield Building
The Pittsfield Building rises forty stories above Washington Street with a terra cotta facade that grows lighter in color as it climbs toward the sky. When it opened in nineteen twenty-seven, it housed dozens of doctors and dentists,…
4. University Club of Chicago
The University Club of Chicago rises above Michigan Avenue as a sheer wall of Gothic stonework, topped by a row of sharp, limestone pinnacles that break the skyline. Inside, the massive Cathedral Hall features high vaulted ceilings and…
5. Willoughby Tower
The Willoughby Tower stands out on South Michigan Avenue because of its sharp, setbacks that rise like a tiered stone wedding cake. Completed in nineteen twenty-nine, it was designed by architects Samuel N. Crowen and William C. Jones as a…
6. Mather Tower
Mather Tower rises as a pencil-thin shaft of white terra cotta above East Wacker Drive. Completed in nineteen twenty-four, this neo-Gothic skyscraper originally housed the offices of a prominent coal tycoon, Alonzo Mather. Engineers…
7. Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower rises with a jagged crown of limestone flying buttresses modeled after the thirteenth century butter tower of the Rouen Cathedral in France. In nineteen twenty-two, the Chicago Tribune launched an international…