Once upon a time, before Potter Palmer relocated to the swampy North Side around Schiller Street, this was the premier residental street in Chicago for the social and economic elite. George Pullman, Philip Armour and Marshall Field are but a few of the luminaries who once dwelled on what was considered Chicago's Fifth Avenue. Stately houses with gilded lobbies and huge mansions were the norm before the turn of the century. Today, this part of the city is tired, ravaged by years of economic blight and poverty. Still, parts of this once fabled stretch of road are intact and worth a look. Tours are run by the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Glessner House museum.
The Northwest Tower in Chicago is perhaps the best known example of Art Deco architecture in the city. Fusing together the natural elements from Art Nouveau and the angular, geometrically inspired motifs from the machine age, the visually triangular building is often described looking like a coyote howling into the sky. This is probably why, it is usually dubbed as the Coyote Building. One of the premiere landmarks in the city, the Coyote Building is where the famous Tower Coyote Gallery is located.
The Courthouse Place is a built in the Richardsonian Romanesque-style. This structure was completed in 1893 by architect Otto H. Matz. The structure was the site of many legendary trials. The famous Black Sox Scandal was trialled here. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1984 and later designated a Chicago Landmark on June 9, 1993.
The McGraw-Hill Building is one of the most amazing specimen, that is a mix of superb sculpture and architecture. It is a 16-storey, 190 foot (57 meters) long landmark building. This is one of the very few existing examples of the high-quality of buildings that were constructed along North Michigan Avenue during 1918-1930. It is an example of the Art Deco architecture, the building design incorporates classical style with modern linear qualities. Particularly distinctive are its rich and innovative sculptures.
