Within the South Side, you’ll find the Near South Side, which is closest to downtown the Southwest Side, which encompasses neighborhoods west of Ashland Avenue the Southeast Side communities east of Stony Island Avenue and the Far South Side, which are generally the neighborhoods south of 95th Street. The eastern border is Lake Michigan, while its western edge is an uneven and unofficial line marked by Western Avenue to the north and the city’s jagged western boundaries. We’re talking about an area roughly bounded by Cermak Road to the north and 138th Street to the south. The South Side, however, has been largely omitted from Chicago’s architectural discussion.īefore we get too far along, let’s define the South Side’s boundaries. The North Side’s architecture is most certainly appreciated, especially the homes and buildings in the mega-monied Gold Coast, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview neighborhoods, and the miles of classy residential towers along North Lake Shore Drive. And there are the 21st-century newcomers, such as Jeanne Gang, FAIA’s Aqua Tower, an 82-story structure that looks as much a sculpture as it does a building. Or the dark and brawny Willis Tower (née Sears), once the world’s tallest building, that punches its way through the clouds over the West Loop. Buildings such as the Chicago Board of Trade, an Art Deco beauty that sweeps skyward from the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. The buildings Chicago honors most are the skyscrapers that line up along Dearborn, LaSalle, and State Streets, Michigan Avenue, and Wacker Drive, designed by titans of architecture such as Holabird & Root, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. But more than 140 years’ worth of some of the finest buildings in the country are still here and are added onto constantly. These days, there is little evidence around town that Chicago ever butchered the world’s hogs or stacked the nation’s wheat, as poet Carl Sandburg famously wrote in 1914. Its buildings are the stuff of lore, books, and architecture tours. Lee Bey Pride Cleaners, designed by architect Gerald Siegwart and completed in 1959-one of many South Side buildings that deserve designation as Chicago LandmarksĬhicago’s architecture is important.

Famous chicago architects