53rd St., is in the heart of Hyde Park, which is a dynamic part of Chicago that may be overlooked by visitors who often stay close to the Loop area during their trips. LaSalle St., with a spectacularly delicate light court by Frank Lloyd Wright. and Burnham & Root’s muscular Rookery Building, 209 S. the mighty, X-braced former John Hancock Center, by SOM, 875 N. That said, here are three personal favorites, all easily found downtown: Louis Sullivan’s corner-turning, exquisitely decorated former Carson Pirie Scott store, 1 S. Reed KroloffĬhicago is blessed with an embarrassment of architectural riches, so being asked to pick a single favorite historic building is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Here is an example of the master at work in his mature style-all stretched lintels, recessed mortar joints, rakish cantilevers, and banded windows in a sleek repudiation of the Victorian dandification of the age. Slipped onto its site like an elongated brick yacht in dry-dock, this turn-of-the-20th-century stunner is the apotheosis of Wright's Prairie Style. On the list would be Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterful Robie House.