Chicago Architecture

6. Carson Pirie Scott Building

Chicago, IL

Walk east on Monroe to State Street, and you'll find the Carson Pirie Scott Building, designed by architect Louis Sullivan. Built in 1899 and sold to Carson Pirie Scott in 1904, it served as a major retail destination until Carson's closed in 2007, at which point the building was actually renamed The Sullivan Center. The building is a steel structure, allowing wide, horizontal windows to provide natural light and ideal locations to showcase merchandise. A beautiful rounded tower acts as the building's entrance. The lavish Bronze-plated cast-iron ornamental work above the rounded tower creates a sense of monumentality and was used because it was as resilient as a sheet of copper. Both the use of bronze and terra cotta was important to setting the building apart from others because it was essentially fire resistant.