History and Background

Founded in 1837, Chicago grew quickly into a center of commerce and production. The Chicago Fire of 1871, however, decimated the young city. The commercial heart of the city was particularly marred by this tragedy. With most of downtown Chicago in ruins, the fire created a blank slate for the cultivation of an unprecedented post-fire building boom that would put Chicago on the architectural map. The fire prompted city authorities to ban wooden edifices in high density areas, such as the loop, requiring architects to move away from traditional building methods.

In the decades leading up to the turn of the century, a group of forward thinking architects became active in the rebuilding, planning, and beautification of Chicago. Referred to as the “First Chicago School,” these architects had to contend with both the swamp-like land that lay below city infrastructure as well as the ever-growing price of loop properties. These challenges of weight distribution and the need to build up and not out resulted in the development of the skyscraper. Using a base of iron and steel, the Reliance Building was completed in 1895 by the firm of Burnham and Root. The soaring, window-laden Reliance Building is one of the early skyscrapers which set the mold for glass and steel skyscrapers of the modern era.

The Modern Era and Beyond

After the late 19th century building boom and pioneering efforts in the development of the modern skyscraper, Chicago and its architects did not rest on their laurels. Among this next generation of builders was Louis Sullivan’s student Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright, an idiosyncratic practitioner of the Midwest’s native Prairie School, produced a series of impressive residences throughout Chicago in the 1910s. These horizontally oriented buildings are not simply architectural feats, but also feature built-in furnishings from bookcases to light fixtures throughout. The following decades brought on the influx of high modernism and international style buildings, typified by the work of Mies Van der Rohe and his imitators. These arch-modernist builders took the steel and glass model of the early skyscraper model to new heights and extremes. The 1980s, 90s, and current building projects have been diverse in style and responsive to their impressive architectural heritage.

Tours and Contact Information

Buildings from every era still populate Chicago’s Loop. Together, these disparate styles and decades have created a unique and dynamic skyline. Any Chicago visitor will be struck by the city’s incredible architectural history. What also becomes clear is that Chicago’s architectural history helps illustrate the history of a distinctly American architecture. There are numerous opportunities to take in this rich history. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust runs tours of Wright’s studios and building, and The Chicago Architecture Foundation offers a multitude of tours of downtown and neighborhoods all over the city. Most tours cost less than 20 dollars and offer a comprehensive, fascinating, informative and manageable slice of Chicago’s built environment. The 90 minute boat tours are the most popular, offering unforgettable vistas.