The buildings and architecture of Chicago reflect the city's history and multicultural heritage, featuring prominent buildings in a variety of styles. Most structures downtown were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.
The Highland Park Ford Plant is a former Ford Motor Company factory located at 91 Manchester Street in Highland Park, Michigan. It was the second American production facility for the Model T automobile and the first factory in history to assemble cars on a moving assembly line. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-American Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.
The Reliance Building is a skyscraper located at 1 W. Washington Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The first floor and basement were designed by John Root of the Burnham and Root architectural firm in 1890, with the rest of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood in 1895. It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a design feature that would become dominant in the 20th century.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio is a historic house and design studio in Oak Park, Illinois, which was designed and owned by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. First built in 1889 and added to over the years, the home and studio is furnished with original Wright-designed furniture and textiles. It has been restored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to its appearance in 1909, the last year Wright lived there with his family. Here, Wright worked on his career and aesthetic in becoming one of the most influential architects of the 20th century.
The Marquette Building, completed in 1895, is a Chicago landmark that was built by the George A. Fuller Company and designed by architects Holabird & Roche. The building is currently owned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It is located in the community area known as the "Loop" in Cook County, Illinois, United States.
The Isidore H. Heller House is a house located at 5132 South Woodlawn Avenue in the Hyde Park community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The house was designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The design is credited as one of the turning points in Wright's shift to geometric, Prairie School architecture, which is defined by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands, and an integration with the landscape, which is meant to evoke native Prairie surroundings.
The Charles E. Roberts Stable is a renovated former barn in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The building has a long history of remodeling work including an 1896 transformation by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The stable remodel was commissioned by Charles E. Roberts, a patron of Wright's work, the same year Wright worked on an interior remodel of Roberts' House. The building was eventually converted into a residence by Charles E. White, Jr., a Wright-associated architect, sources vary as to when this occurred but the house was moved from its original location to its present site in 1929. The home is cast in the Tudor Revival style but still displays the architectural thumbprint of Wright's later work. The building is listed as a contributing property to a federally designated U.S. Registered Historic District.
The Chapin and Gore Building is a historic building located at 63 East Adams Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois. The distilling company of Chapin and Gore had the building constructed in 1904 for their business; the original building consisted a first-floor bar and store and offices and warehouse space in the remainder of the building. Architectural partners Richard E. Schmidt and Hugh M. G. Garden designed the building, which has a functional plan but includes substantial ornamentation such as terra cotta and brickwork. The building's ornamental capitals and cornice were removed in the 1950s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 27, 1979, and later designated as a Chicago Landmark on January 21, 1982.
The Tree Studio Building and Annexes was an artist colony established in Chicago, Illinois in 1894 by Judge Lambert Tree and his wife, Anne Tree.
The Dubuque County Jail is a historic building at 36 East 8th Street in Dubuque, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1858, the jail is an example of the uncommon Egyptian Revival style. It is architecturally a highly original work of John F. Rague, who also designed the 1837 Old Capitol of Illinois and the 1840 Territorial Capitol of Iowa. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture in 1987. It served as a jail for more than a century, became a museum in 1975, and was converted into county offices in 2016.
The Sears, Roebuck and Company Complex is a building complex in the community area of North Lawndale in Chicago, Illinois. The complex hosted most of department-store chain Sears' mail order operations between 1906 and 1993, and it also served as Sears' corporate headquarters until 1973, when the Sears Tower was completed. Of its original 40-acre (16 ha) complex, only three buildings survive and have been adaptively rehabilitated to other uses. The complex was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, at which time it still included the 3,000,000-square-foot mail order plant, the world's largest commercial building when it was completed. That building has been demolished, its site taken up by the Homan Square redevelopment project.
The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company Warehouse is a historic formerly commercial building at 150 Bay Street in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Built as a warehouse for The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) in 1900, it is the major surviving remnant of a five-building complex of the nation's first major grocery store chain. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, and now houses a mix of residences and storage facilities.
Franklin Pierce Burnham was an American architect. He is best known for his collaborations with Willoughby J. Edbrooke, especially the 1889 Georgia State Capitol. Burnham was also named the Kenilworth Company Architect for Kenilworth, Illinois, and thus designed several of the planned community's original structures. After 1903, Burnham focused his works on California, including a series of twelve Carnegie libraries. Five of his buildings are today recognized by the National Park Service on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Georgia State Capitol, a National Historic Landmark.
The A. D. German Warehouse is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Mayan Revival warehouse that was constructed in Richland Center, Wisconsin in 1921. Wright was born in Richland Center in 1867. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Prairie Avenue is a north–south street on the South Side of Chicago, which historically extended from 16th Street in the Near South Side to the city's southern limits and beyond. The street has a rich history from its origins as a major trail for horseback riders and carriages. During the last three decades of the 19th century, a six-block section of the street served as the residence of many of Chicago's elite families and an additional four-block section was also known for grand homes. The upper six-block section includes part of the historic Prairie Avenue District, which was declared a Chicago Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Montgomery Ward Company Complex is the former national headquarters of Montgomery Ward, the United States' oldest mail order firm. The property is located along the North Branch of the Chicago River at 618 W. Chicago Avenue in Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark on June 2, 1978.
The Austin, Nichols and Company Warehouse, also known as 184 Kent Avenue and Austin Nichols House, is a historic warehouse building on the East River between North 3rd and North 4th Streets in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City. The structure, measuring 179 by 440 feet, was built in the Egyptian Revival style; it is one of the city's few buildings in that style. The building was designed by architect Cass Gilbert and erected by general contractor Turner Construction with the help of structural engineer Gunvald Aus.
The Produce Terminal Cold Storage Company Building is a historic refrigerated warehouse at 1550 South Blue Island Avenue in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1928–29, the warehouse was the largest cold storage facility in Chicago when it opened. As Chicago was a major shipping and transportation hub, refrigerated storage played a key role in preserving perishable goods so they could be sold year-round. Architects H. Peter Henschien, a renowned designer of refrigerated facilities, and Robert J. McLaren designed the Art Deco building. The top two stories of the eleven-story building feature extensive terra cotta and tile ornamentation, including chevrons, Egyptian-inspired colonettes, and a dentillated cornice with cymatium molding. In addition to its extensive refrigerated space, the interior plan also included processing and office space, improving efficiency and lowering costs for the building's tenants.
The Mandel Brothers Warehouse Building is a historic warehouse at 3254 N. Halsted Street in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The Mandel Brothers Department Store, one of the oldest department store companies in Chicago at the time, built the warehouse in 1903 to support its delivery service. Prominent Chicago architecture firm Holabird & Roche, who also designed both stores and warehouses for many of Chicago's other department store companies, designed the warehouse. The firm used a Renaissance Revival design for the warehouse, an uncommon choice that stood out from Chicago's many utilitarian warehouses. Their design features a brick exterior with quoins, an arched entrance and windows, and a parapet with decorative brickwork.
