Loop Skyscraper Architecture

The Sullivan Center stands out on State Street because of the intricate, cast iron ornamentation wrapping its lower levels. Louis Sullivan designed the facade in eighteen ninety-nine to draw shoppers into the Schlesinger and Mayer…

The Reliance Building holds a facade of glass and white terra cotta that seems to dissolve the traditional weight of a building. When it opened in eighteen ninety-five, its thin steel frame allowed for massive plate-glass windows that…

The Inland Steel Building shines with a stainless steel skin that reflects the surrounding skyscrapers. Completed in nineteen fifty-eight, it was the first skyscraper built in the Chicago Loop in over twenty years. Architects Skidmore,…

The Marquette Building rises twelve stories in a grid of dark, rust-colored steel and terra cotta. It was one of the first steel-frame skyscrapers in Chicago, built in eighteen ninety-four. Inside the lobby, a massive glass mosaic by Louis…

The Monadnock Building wears a massive, sheer facade of dark brown brick that rises sixteen stories without a single ornament. When the northern half went up in eighteen ninety-one, architects Burnham and Root carried the weight of the…

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…

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…