We use cookies to ensure we give you the best experience on our website. You can find out about our cookies and how to disable cookies in our Privacy Policy. If you continue to use this website without disabling cookies, we will assume you are happy to receive them. Close.

Chicago school of architecture

Above: The Home InsuranceBuilding by architect William Le Baron Jenney, which some regard as the first skyscraper in the world, was built in Chicago in 1885 and was demolished in 1931.

Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School, also known as 'commercial style'. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century.

While the term Chicago School is widely used to describe buildings in the city during the 1880s and 1890s, it has been disputed by scholars, in particular in reaction to Carl Condit's 1952 book The Chicago School of Architecture.

Historians such as H. Allen Brooks, Winston Weisman and Daniel Bluestone have pointed out that the phrase suggests a unified set of aesthetic or conceptual precepts, when, in fact, Chicago buildings of the era displayed a wide variety of styles and techniques.

The 'Chicago window' originated in the school. It is a three-part window consisting of a large fixed center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows. The arrangement of windows on the facade typically creates a grid pattern, with some projecting out from the facade forming bay windows. The Chicago window combined the functions of light-gathering and natural ventilation; a single central pane was usually fixed, while the two surrounding panes were operable. These windows were often deployed in bays, known as oriel windows, that projected out over the street.