Where to see Chicago's most amazing architecture

High-flying architecture is everywhere in Chicago, the birthplace of the skyscraper, but the city’s prairie roots shine through, too, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s love of horizontal lines as long as the Midwestern horizon. The 1871 Great Chicago Fire left a blank slate and sparked an architectural revolution, and the city has been a hotbed for innovative architecture ever since.

Taking an architecture-themed river cruise is one of the most popular things to do in Chicago, and for good reason. No matter what tops your must-see list on a trip to the Windy City, you can experience the beauty of Chicago’s architecture and gain a deeper understanding of its history. 

From beaux-arts to art deco, this guide explores Chicago’s best architecture and its rich history, including must-visit Chicago landmarks and the tours that will take you there.

Chicago architectural movements

Chicago’s landmark architecture can be divided into several distinctive architectural movements that are easy to discover on a trip to the city. 

The Prairie School

Frank Lloyd Wright, a protégé of "father of skyscrapers" Louis Sullivan, endowed Chicago with its most distinctive style – the Prairie School, considered the first uniquely American form of architecture. The movement's buildings sought to mirror their place in the plains, emphasizing the horizontal over the vertical with long, low roof lines and rows of windows that seamlessly connect indoor spaces with the outdoors. 

To blend in with the landscape visually, natural materials such as brick, limestone and stucco were often used. Wright called this “organic architecture,” inspired by and aiming to exist harmoniously with nature. 

Of all the Prairie-style houses designed by Wright, Robie House on South Woodlawn Ave in Chicago’s South Side is the most dramatic and successful, with a 20ft cantilevered roof and 175 art glass windows embellished with a geometric wheat stalk design. Driving is the easiest way to reach the house, as public transport can only drop you a few blocks away. 

Key architects: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) is one of the USA’s most notable architects; he catapulted the Prairie style to global renown and coined the term “organic architecture.” Marion Mahony Griffin (1871–1961) was the first woman licensed to practice architecture in Illinois and a founding member of the Prairie School – she was an early hire at Frank Lloyd Wright's practice.

Beaux-Arts

Despite so much forward-looking and America-focused architecture, the buildings constructed for the 1893 World’s Exposition, the first Chicago World’s Fair, were a salute to a European past. The beaux-arts movement, named for the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, took after a French fad that stressed influences from antiquity. The style mixes classical Roman and Greek elements, such as stately columns, cornices and facades crowded with statuary. 

Daniel Burnham was the master planner behind the World’s Fair’s grand whitewashed buildings, which earned the project the nickname of the “White City.” The Palace of Fine Arts, now the Griffin Museum of Science & Industry, is the only surviving structure, but beaux-arts became Chicago’s dominant architectural paradigm for the next two decades. 

This is evidenced by some of the city’s best-known civic landmarks, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Chicago Cultural Center, both accessible on foot along Michigan Ave in the Loop.

Key architect: Daniel Burnham (1846–1912) was the principal architect of the 1893 World’s Fair and a champion of beaux-arts and the City Beautiful movement, which emphasized the social benefits of creating liveable architecture. His 1909 Plan of Chicago is a foundational document of American urban planning.

Art Deco

After the decline in the popularity of beaux-arts, Chicago’s architects found inspiration in another French movement – art deco. Instead of classical columns and statues, deco architects prioritized sharp angles, geometric elements, reflective surfaces and a modern palette of black, silver and green. Many of Chicago’s best examples can be found in the Loop.

The 1929 Carbide & Carbon Building on Michigan Ave was designed by Burnham’s two sons, and it now houses the Pendry Hotel. The building has a unique polished black granite and green terracotta exterior that’s topped by a gold-leaf accented crown, supposedly designed to look like a foil-wrapped champagne bottle. 

Another downtown deco landmark is the 1930 Chicago Board of Trade on West Jackson Blvd, created by Holabird & Root, the city's oldest still-operating architecture firm. It remained the city’s tallest skyscraper until 1965, when the Richard J Daley Center opened on West Washington St.

Key architects: The Burnham Brothers – Daniel Hudson Burnham Jr and Hubert Burnham – continued their father's innovation using new architectural motifs. Other noteworthy Chicago art deco pioneers include the design practice Holabird & Root, creators of the Chicago Board of Trade, the Chicago Daily News Building (Riverside Plaza) and parts of the Wrigley Field stadium.

Bauhaus

Chicago once again led the architectural world in the 1950s thanks to German immigrant Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneer of modern architecture. As the final director of the Bauhaus, he created a series of distinctive buildings in Europe alongside fellow German innovator Walter Gropius and Swiss-French modernist Le Corbusier before fleeing the Nazis for the United States. 

Under his direction, the steel frame that revolutionized Chicago’s skyline once again became seminal, though it was now no longer hidden away inside the walls. Mies’ guiding philosophy was “less is more,” and Chicago’s skyscrapers from this era are all about exposed metal and glass. 

His masterpiece is the Chicago Federal Center on South Dearborn St, made up of the Kluczynski Federal Building and the Dirksen Federal Building, which demonstrate the open, universal spaces and minimalist vertical I-beams he favored. Both are close to Jackson station on the L.

Key architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s (1886–1969) “less is more” motto and simple, boxy designs created the defining style of modern skyscrapers. After working as director of the Bauhaus before fleeing the Nazis, he became the head of architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, designing 22 of the campus' buildings.

Modern Skyscrapers

In the second half of the 20th century, the Chicago architectural partnership of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill came to dominate the cityscape. Further developing Mies’ ideas, they stretched the modern skyscraper even higher in 1970 with the John Hancock Center, known today as 875 N Michigan Ave – swing by for dizzying views from the 360 Chicago observation deck. 

Another leap forward came in 1973 with the construction of the Sears Tower on South Wacker Dr, which kept its crown as the world’s tallest building for almost a quarter century. Now called the Willis Tower, it remained the USA’s tallest building until 2013. 

So far, the 21st century in Chicago has been marked by more architectural triumphs, including Millennium Park and Frank Gehry’s sculpted steel Pritzker Pavilion on the lakeshore downtown, alongside urban renewal projects seeking to revitalize abandoned and forgotten industrial structures and waterways. 

Once an industrial shipping canal used by barges moving lumber, grain and coal, the Wild Mile is now the world’s first floating eco-park, with wheelchair-accessible boardwalks and a public kayak launch. Combine a visit with a concert at the nearby Salt Shed, an indoor-outdoor music venue facing Goose Island on North Elston Ave. 

Key architect: Jeanne Gang’s (1964–) rippling skyscrapers have made her an international star in the 21st century. Her landmark Aqua Tower on North Columbus Dr was the tallest female-designed structure when it was finished in 2009, only to be surpassed by St Regis Chicago on East Wacker Dr in 2020, which is also her work.

Must-see Chicago Buildings

If you only have a short time in the city, here’s our list of must-see buildings. 

• Willis Tower: Chicago’s tallest skyscraper rises 1450ft into the heavens on South Wacker Dr, with glass-floored views from the 103rd floor.

• Tribune Tower: This neogothic cloud-poker on North Michigan Ave is inlaid with stones that were once part of the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon and other international landmarks.

• Aqua Tower: Architect Jeanne Gang’s 82-story beauty on North Columbus Dr has won numerous awards for its dramatic wavy design.

• 875 N Michigan Ave: Formerly known as the John Hancock Center and once the second-tallest building in the world, it’s famed for the lake views from the 94th floor.

• Marina City: These twin corncob towers between North Dearborn St and North State St were completed in 1968 and look like something from a Jetsons cartoon.

• Kluczynski Federal Building: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s boxy metal-and-glass skyscraper on South Dearborn St has hints of the monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• Robie House: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie-style masterpiece on South Woodlawn Ave is one of America’s most significant 20th-century buildings.

Architecture tours and events

If you want to get more from Chicago’s architecture, consider the following tours and events.  

• Chicago Architecture Center tours: On East Wacker Dr, this boxy building designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe contains a few excellent galleries, but the main reason to visit is to join one of its fantastic architecture tours, which take in Chicago’s magnificent structures on foot or by train, bus or boat. Many tours run year-round, but more niche topics are reserved for the warmer months.

• Architecture boat tours: Boat tours are probably the most popular way to see the city's landmark buildings. Most run several times daily from April to November, leaving from the docks at Michigan Ave. The Chicago Architecture Center’s tours are highly regarded, but other companies offer similar tours. 

• Self-guided audio tours: The local public TV station WWTW offers a great, free audio tour of downtown architecture along the river. VoiceMap has an excellent selection of paid-for, app-based audio tours.

• Chicago Architecture Biennial: This three-and-a-half-month architectural event is the biggest exhibition of architecture and design in North America. Free exhibitions, tours and public programs exploring avant-garde ideas and in-progress projects are put on every two years; the next Biennials are in 2025 and 2027.

• Open House Chicago: For one weekend in mid-October, the Chicago Architecture Center marks the city’s annual Open House event with free tours of some 175 architectural gems around the city, many normally off-limits to the public.

This article is adapted from Lonely Planet's Chicago guidebook published in January 2025.