Rookery Building

The Rookery Building, completed in 1888 at 209 South LaSalle Street, is one of Burnham and Root’s masterworks and among Chicago’s earliest surviving high-rises. Rising twelve stories, it embodies the Chicago School’s transitional stage between load-bearing masonry and metal-framed skyscrapers, with an innovative foundation designed for the city’s soft ground. Its central light court and atrium lobby made the interior especially notable, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1905 to 1907 remodeling gave the lobby its celebrated white marble and geometric character. Built on the site of a former reservoir and temporary city hall, the building also preserves a layered civic history and remains a major landmark of skyscraper development in Chicago.

Chicago, Illinois · United States