Chicago’s First Skyscrapers: Express Tour

Chicago is home to some of the world’s earliest skyscrapers. Guests will learn about these 19th Century marvels and the innovations used to build them, and discover how they transformed Chicago into a center of skyscraper design and engineering.

Highlights on this walking tour include one of the earliest post-1871 fire buildings in the city, Burnham and Root’s Rookery (1888) with its Moorish and Romanesque exterior, Holabird and Roche’s Marquette Building (1895), an outstanding example of the metal frame expression including its lobby with Tiffany mosaics, plus the Chicago Board of Trade (1930) and the Field Building (1934), two outstanding examples of Art Deco.