See architectural landmarks!
Visit downtown Chicago as AIAS Illinois explores the Windy City for Open House Chicago, the opportunity to see some of the city's greatest works of architecture up close and personal in locations normally closed to the public! We are planning on visiting multiple historic and world-renowned icons in the architecture capital of America! Learn about the sites we plan to visit below! Sign-up available now!
Visit downtown Chicago as AIAS Illinois explores the Windy City for Open House Chicago, the opportunity to see some of the city's greatest works of architecture up close and personal in locations normally closed to the public! We are planning on visiting multiple historic and world-renowned icons in the architecture capital of America! Learn about the sites we plan to visit below! Sign-up available now!
Wintrust bank building - 231 S Lasalle
The Wintrust Bank Building, formerly the Continental Illinois Bank Building, stands across LaSalle Street from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, two neoclassical near-twins guarding the main intersection of Chicago's financial district. Its namesake bank called the building home until a financial collapse in 1984. Interior spaces include a mix of neoclassical and Gothic Revival architecture with Art Deco influences, most notably a massive 88,000-square-foot grand banking hall on the second floor, recently restored. The building stands on the site of the former Grand Pacific Hotel, where the continental United States was officially divided into four standard time zones in 1883, an event commemorated with a plaque outside the building on Jackson Street.
Londonhouse chicago - 85 E Upper wacker
The transformation of the London Guarantee Building into the LondonHouse Hotel is one of the most ambitious projects of Chicago's current hotel boom. In 2013, Oxford Capital Group acquired the Neo-Classical and Art Deco high-rise situated on the former site of Fort Dearborn. Since then, the historic structure has been restored. A 22-story glass tower designed by Goettsch Partners was added on a previously unoccupied property on the Wacker Drive side of the building. The resulting 452-room LondonHouse hotel opened in May 2016. It includes 25,000 square feet of event space and a three-story rooftop bar with river views that are out of this world.
Blue cross blue shield of illinois - 300 E randolph
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois Tower is a curiosity among Chicago high-rises due to its construction in two phases over two separate decades. The original 30-story building was completed in 1997 to satisfy the health insurance company’s immediate space needs. However, it was also engineered to allow for future upward growth. From 2007 to 2010, 24 stories were added—seamlessly extending the building to 54 floors in height. The tower's extensive use of glass, inside and out, creates stunning atrium spaces and provides outstanding views of Grant Park and Lakeshore East.
Ross Barney Architects - 10 W Hubbard
Ross Barney Architects moved into this century-old warehouse formerly owned by world renowned Chicago architect Harry Weese in 2002. It features a 2-story, sky-lit atrium and an angled staircase connecting the fourth and fifth floors. Ross Barney revised the space to be more conducive for collaboration by taking down partitions, including the ones that enclosed Weese's private office, and installing reconfigurable workstations. Visitors who enter the reception area are greeted with a series of fabric panels and 3D models of the many projects the studio has designed. Carol Ross Barney is an alumni of the University of Illinois School of Architecture!
adrian smith + gordon gill architecture
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is dedicated to the design of high-performance, energy-efficient and sustainable architecture on an international scale—designing everything from low and mid-rise residential to mixed-use supertall towers. AS + GG moved their Chicago studio into the historic Inland Steel building in 2018. The 19-story Inland Steel Building was the first skyscraper to be built in the Loop after the Great Depression. Its column-free layout, glass and stainless steel exterior and separate service core make it an iconic building and a Modernist landmark.
