The Chicago School style emerged after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 ravaged the city, and architects rushed to rebuild with taller, more fire-resistant structures. At the same time steel-frame construction, fireproofing, wind bracing and — most crucially — the invention of the elevator let skyscrapers rise for the first time. Designed primarily for commercial use, these buildings prioritized function over ornamentation. A defining feature of these buildings was the Chicago window — a large window in the center flanked by two smaller windows with terracotta masonry cladding.
“ I think that Chicago, more than any other place, was a capitalist city and the buildings being built were speculative buildings, meaning they were buildings rented out to anybody,” said Robert Bruegmann, a distinguished professor emeritus of art history, architecture and urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “And because of that, the buildings here were cheaper per square foot and much less ornamented than most of the buildings in the East Coast or Paris or London.”
Examples of this style include the Chicago Savings Bank Building, 7 W. Madison St., and the Rookery Building, 209 S. LaSalle St.
Primarily used for residential architecture, the Prairie School style was pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan in the early 1900s. It emphasized horizontal lines, low-pitched roofs and open interior spaces. These homes broke away from the traditional boxlike rooms, reflecting a new approach that combined geometrical proportions with organic design. While Mr. Wright focused more on the geometric manipulation of the house such as using open floor plans and extended low-hanging eaves, Mr. Sullivan emphasized ornamental elements inspired by natural forms.
“Almost all houses, whether European or American, up until that time were just rectangular solids,” Professor Bruegmann said. “Frank Lloyd Wright pushed and pulled those pieces of the building, and created these low, cantilevered, structures that were sort of flat, much more flat than the traditional, like two- and three- story buildings, which would[’ve] had a high pitch roof.”
Examples of this style include the Robie House, 5757 S. Woodlawn Ave. (one block from Lab), and the Unity Temple, 875 Lake St., Oak Park.
The Art Deco style brought modernism and glamour to Chicago architecture in the 1920s and ’30s. Influenced by the city’s spirit, the start of Art Deco captured the optimism of the “Jazz Age” while its end captured the somber spirit of the Great Depression. Characterized by geometric patterns and rich ornamentation, the style featured bold materials reflecting the era’s elegance fused with industrial breakthroughs.
“ I think particularly in the 1920s, it was a very exuberant style that you connected with jazz and fast automobiles and other things that people at the time thought were very modern,” Professor Bruegmann said. “By the 1930s, that changes because we’re in the middle of the depression, and it goes to much more sober kind of buildings, and particularly to a kind of streamlined deco which was quite different from the 1920s decorative style.”
Examples of this style include the Carbide and Carbon Building, 230 N. Michigan Ave., and the Chicago Board of Trade Building 141 W. Jackson Blvd.
Led by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the International Style emphasized minimalism and function. Using glass, steel and concrete, architects created clean geometrical buildings that expressed Mies’ famous motto, “Less is more.” The style rejected ornamentation, often favoring open floor plans and exposed structural elements instead.
“With Mies if you actually look carefully at the buildings, a lot of it was based on aesthetic ideas.
His most famous early building was the apartment buildings at 860-880 Lake Shore Drive, which at first glance looked very simple. And then he did 900-910 Lake Shore Drive, which looked very similar, but in fact, they’re not what they appear to be,” Professor Bruegmann said. “They’re not steel-and-glass buildings. They’re actually concrete buildings, where he put steel on the outside to make it look like it’s a steel-and-glass simple building. So it’s actually dressing up something to look like something that it isn’t, which would have been completely opposed to what he’s actually saying he was doing. And that’s true of almost all these architects. They said one thing and they often did something that really was just because they liked the way it looked.”
Examples of this style include the Lake Point Tower, 505 N. Lake Shore Dr., and the Willis Tower 233 S. Wacker Dr.
The Postmodernism Style arrived in Chicago as the result of blending international style with classical motifs. Two major components that formed this style were buildings that looked like they belonged to the past and buildings that manipulated geometrical designs. Stanley Tigerman was one of the most notable for his work in incorporating color and humor into his designs, such as the Anti-Cruelty Society building on 510 N. La Salle Dr. which is in the shape of a dog’s head.
“ One current was historical recall, which is a building that tries to look like an earlier style of architecture, and there are architects in Chicago who put up buildings today that you wouldn’t know they weren’t a hundred years old,” Professor Brugemann said. “There’s another kind of postmodern, which is all this idea about structure and function. and instead you have a modern building. It has no historic ornament. but it’s very much based on manipulating the geometries.”
Examples of this style include the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St., and the 333 West Wacker building, 333 W. Wacker Dr.
Contemporary Chicago architecture is characterized by a diversity of experimentation and responsiveness to the climate and new technology. Jeanne Gang, Chicago’s most internationally recognized architect today, exemplifies this evolution through her diverse works of architecture that merge impressive form with advanced structural components. Contemporary architecture also increasingly integrates sustainable design like geothermal heating, double-pane windows, and carbon reducing materials — all of which are invisible to the eye.
“I think that every time in history people would say, ‘Oh, there’s no one style, that, there’s all kinds of competing styles,’ and I think they would certainly say that today,” said Professor Bruegmann.
Examples of this style include the Aqua Tower, 225 N. Columbus Dr., and the St. Regis building, 363 E. Wacker Dr.
