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Designed by John Mills van Osdel, the city's first accredited architect after the Chicago Fire, this four-story building is one of the oldest in the Loop. The two bottom floors were remodeled by Louis Sullivan in 1896, adding some interesting cast-iron designs for its use as a department store.
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Adler & Sullivan, 1882
Louis Sullivan was only a draftsman at the time this was built, but there are some interesting designs nestled into expressive façade and the classic, powerful masonry walls.
Shubert Theater
Another Broadway in Chicago theater. Founded in 1906 to attract a classier vaudeville crowd, it saw performances from Harry Houdini, and was run by New York theater impresario Sam Shubert for more than forty-five years. In modern times, Monty Python's Spamalot and High School Musical have played here.
Root/Atwood, 1890/1895
A then-unprecedented amount of glass was used in this early skyscraper, bewildering a public still used to masonry walls. Note the difference between the first two floors and the ones above: hold-outs among the previous building's tenants forced developers to build the foundation and the first two floors under the top three floors from the old building, and then knock off the top three when their leases had expired. It was restored when it became the Hotel Burnham (see below) in 1999, and can be explored with a stop at the Atwood Cafe (also below).
Home of Chicago's renowned orchestra; they spend a lot of time on the road, though, so visiting orchestras and stately jazz concerts can also be found here, as can the occasional curveball like a silent film.
850 ft. Located at the exact center of CTA's Loop transit system, this building is distinctive for its vertical curve. It has been renamed for each of the successive banks that have bought out its previous tenants — for example, it was the BankOne Tower until 2005. The plaza outside is more interesting than the interior — it is home to an enormous mosaic by renowned Russian painter Marc Chagall.
Built in 1897 as Chicago's first public library, the building now houses the city's Visitor Information Center, galleries, and exhibit halls. Worth a visit to see the beautiful interior — the ceiling of Preston Bradley Hall includes a 38-foot Tiffany glass dome, and the north wing includes the impressive Grand Army of the Republic Rotunda. Of late, amid various city-approved art and music events, some surprisingly good theater has been performed here.