13 Stunning Architecture Landmarks in Chicago
13 landmarks with verified facts and stories
330 N Wabash (Mies van der Rohe)
330 N Wabash Ave, River North, Chicago, 60611, United States
330 North Wabash — originally the IBM Building — was the last American office building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and it's the purest expression of his 'less is more' philosophy in Chicago's skyline.
Chicago Cultural Center
78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602
The Chicago Cultural Center is a building that would be a museum in any other city but in Chicago is just.
Chicago Riverwalk
Chicago, United States
The Chicago Riverwalk is a mile-long promenade along the south bank of the Chicago River that transformed what was essentially a service road for delivery trucks into one of the best urban waterfronts in America.
Chicago Theatre
175 N State St, Chicago, IL 60601
The Chicago Theatre's vertical 'C-H-I-C-A-G-O' marquee sign is arguably the most photographed sign in the city — six stories of neon and incandescent bulbs that have been spelling out the city's name on State Street since 1921.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House
5757 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637
The Robie House is Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the building that defined the Prairie School of architecture with such authority that it's been called one of the ten most significant structures of the 20th century.
Garfield Park Conservatory
300 N Central Park Ave, East Garfield Park, Chicago, 60624, United States
Garfield Park Conservatory is one of the world's largest conservatories — two acres of tropical plants under glass in Chicago's West Side, free to enter, and visited by a fraction of the tourists who crowd into the Loop attractions a few miles east.
Marina City
300 N State St, River North, Chicago, 60654, United States
Marina City's twin cylindrical towers — universally known as the 'corn cobs' — are the buildings that made Chicago's riverfront into a postcard.
Old Water Tower
806 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
The Old Water Tower is the building that refused to burn.
Pullman National Historical Park
11141 S Cottage Grove Ave, Pullman, Chicago, 60628, United States
Pullman is a planned industrial town built in the 1880s by railroad sleeping car magnate George Pullman, who believed that providing workers with clean housing, parks, a library, and a theatre would make them more productive and less inclined to unionise.
The Rookery
209 S LaSalle St, Chicago, IL 60604
The Rookery is a building that contains two of the greatest achievements in Chicago architecture — and most people who work in it don't know about either.
Tribune Tower
435 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Tribune Tower is a Gothic skyscraper with a secret that most visitors walk past without noticing — embedded in the limestone walls at street level are 149 fragments of famous buildings and landmarks from around the world, collected by Chicago Tribune correspondents over decades: pieces of the Parthenon, the Great Wall of China, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Taj Mahal, the Berlin Wall, the Great Pyramid, Westminster Abbey, and Fort Sumter, among others.
Willis Tower Skydeck
233 S Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606
Willis Tower — which every Chicagoan over 30 still calls Sears Tower — held the title of tallest building in the world for 25 years after its completion in 1973, and at 1,450 feet it remains the tallest building in Chicago and one of the most recognisable skyscrapers on Earth.
Wrigley Building
400-410 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
The Wrigley Building is Chicago's white knight — a gleaming terra-cotta twin tower complex that anchors the Magnificent Mile at the Michigan Avenue Bridge and looks like someone dropped a Seville cathedral bell tower into the middle of a business district.
Explore architecture in Chicago
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.