The city of Chicago, Illinois has had a wide influence on the history of architecture and the city features prominent buildings by many important architects in a variety of styles. Since most buildings were destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, with the prominent exception of the Water Tower, Chicago buildings are of no great antiquity; however, they are noted for their originality.

The Chicago School which began in the early 1880's pioneered steel-frame construction and the use of large amounts of glass. These were the first modern skyscrapers. William LeBaron Jenney's Home Insurance Building of 1885 was the first use of steel-skeleton instead of cast iron and stone. In 1892 the Masonic Temple surpassed New York's World Building, breaking its two year reign as the tallest skyscraper, only to be surpassed itself two years later by another New York building.

Early Chicago school buildings like the Reliant Building and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Illinois Institute of Technology campus influenced the later Modern or International style. Van der Rohe's work is sometimes called the Second Chicago School.

Daniel Burnham led the design of the "White City" of the 1893 World Columbian Exposition which led to a revival of Neo-Classical architecture throughout Chicago and the entire United States. He later developed the 1909 "Plan for Chicago", perhaps the first comprehensive city plan in the U.S.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School influenced both building design and the design of furnishings.

The Sears Tower would be the world's tallest building from its construction in 1974 until 1998 and later for some categories of building.

Numerous architects have constructed landmark buildings of varying styles in Chicago. Some of these are the so-called Chicago seven: James Freed , Tom Beeby , Larry Booth , Stuart Cohen , James Nagle , Stanley Tigerman , and Ben Weese .

Important Chicago buildings

• Chicago Water Tower, 1869, William W. Boyington
• Home Insurance Building, 1885, Chicago School, William Le Baron Jenney
• Auditorium Building, 1889, Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.
• Palace of Fine Arts, later Museum of Science and Industry, 1893, Beaux-Arts, Charles Atwood
• Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building , 1898, Louis Sullivan
• Navy Pier, 1914
• Navy Pier Auditorium , 1916, Charles Summer Frost
• Wrigley Building, 1919-1924,
• Michigan Avenue Bridge , 1920
• Chicago Theater , 1921, Beaux-Arts, Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp
• Tribune Tower, 1922, neo-Gothic, John Mead Howells and Raymond M. Hood
• Soldier Field, 1924, Holabird and Roche; extensive renovation 2003, Ben Wood and Carlos Zapata
• Palmolive Building , 1929, Art Deco, John Root and William Holabird
• John G. Shedd Aquarium , 1929, Graham, Anderson, Probst & White
• Merchandise Mart, 1931
• Robie House, 1909, Prairie School , Frank Lloyd Wright
• Illinois Institute of Technology, 1930s-1960s, Second Chicago School, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
• Marina City Towers , 1964, Bertrand Golberg
• Lake Point Tower , 1968, John Heinrich and George Schipporeit
• John Hancock Center, 1969, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
• Sears Tower, 1974, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
• Aon Center, 1974, Edward Durrell Stone (earlier names were Standard Oil Building and Amoco Building)
• James R. Thompson Center , 1979-85, Helmut Jahn
• American Medical Association Building , 1990, Kenzo Tange
• Athletic Club Illinois Center , 1990, Kisho Kurokawa
• Harold Washington Library Center , 1991, Thomas Beeby
• Museum of Contemporary Art, 1991, Josef Paul Kleihues
• 77 West Wacker Drive, 1992, Ricardo Bofill
• Millennium Park, 2004, Frank Gehry, a showcase for postmodern architecture.

External link

• Architectural history of Chicago
• Online tour of designated Chicago landmarks
• Information on several major Chicago buildings
• Chicago Architects Oral History Project
• Cosmopolis overview