Art Deco Madness Walking Tour

Art Deco is a style of visual arts, architecture and design which first appeared in France just before World War 1

It got its name. Arts Décoratifs (shortened) from the famous “International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts” held in Paris in 1925

It was an art form and It influenced the design of not just buildings, but also:

Planes Trains & Automobiles / cinemas / fashion / furniture / jewelry and even  ocean liners!

S. S. Normandy Shipliner circa 1932 Largest ship in the world for 5 years

S.S. Normandy Dining Room

Dancing Figures

Stair stepped chandelier

Art Deco  used a consistent modern language that integrated technology into daily life. It started a design transformation which brought good design to the masses. 

It even trickled down to everyday objects: 

radios / toasters & vacuum cleaners!

Electrolux – waterfall curve – styled for the look of speed and movement

Stylistically, huge emphasis on :

• Horizontal lines  
• Vertical Lines
• Waterfall curves
• Streamlined shapes (Represented movement and speed)

During its heyday, it represented 

• luxury, 
• glamour, 
• exuberance
• faith in social and technological progress.

World War 1 ended in 1918

After that America became much more standardized and mechanized.  

There were monotonous assembly lines & harsh working conditions in the factories

This caused Americans to shift their attention to leisure activities like dancing and drinking.

Also The technologies of 

• Planes Trains & Automobiles
• Radios
• TVs

Started to connect people to each other throughout the entire country like never before.

Out of all of this The Roaring 20s was born! Mass crazes sprung up like 

• The Charleston    
• Flapper Dresses 
• Jazz 

The spirit of this new era caused a rejection of classicism and classic design and this brand new amazing style emerged, which celebrated modern life in this new Machine Age.  

King tuts tomb discovered ~ 1922  

Undisturbed for 3000 years!! 

Note horizontal and vertical lines and waterfall curves in the headpiece.

Egyptian imagery became popular: 

• scarabs 
• hieroglyphics 
• pyramids

These motifs started appearing everywhere, from clothing to theatre façades.

York Theatre – Elmhurst, IL

In the early 1900s bank buildings became popular.  

No bank branches – No computers

Also a great need for office space

Buildings shot skyward along with a booming economy

In the early 1920s the zoning for overall building height was increased to 264 feet, or about 26 stories, but architects could further stretch to heights of 400 feet with unoccupied, ornamental towers.

Three years later, In 1923, the city altered zoning laws to allow clock towers that were occupied. 

But City officials started to realize we needed air and sunshine so this eventually led to the“setback” zoning of 1926. After 264 feet (26 stories) the remaining towers could not take up more than 50% of the lot’s frontage. 

Art Deco – Holabird & Root – circa 1930

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is the city’s oldest grain futures and options exchange. 

Tall windows facing north for the best light.  Farmers would bring samples of their grains to be inspected before being sold to grain traders.

Steel window panels installed with different tones as a trick to the eye to emphasize the height of the building

Pyramid shaped roof influenced by the Egyptian pyramids.  

Originally free observation deck at the top with telescopes with glass skylights.

Ceres – Greek Goddess of grain  – 3 stories tall

She holds in one hand a sheaf of wheat

in the other a grain trader’s sample bag. 

Her forms are overly-simplistic,

• no face
• her garment is made up of vertical lines
• folds emphasizing the verticality of the building

Ceres in interior on a huge panel on the wall of the trading floor

Observation Deck

Clock flanked by a Mesopotamian Man on the left holding wheat and a Native American on the right holding stalks of corn. 

Between them is a Deco-styled eagle – the emblem of the nation.  The fierce beauty and proud independence of this great bird symbolized the strength and freedom of America.

All details flattened

Below them is a limestone horizontal banding with representations of bulls protruding directly from the limestone – an architectural tongue-in-cheek reference to a bull market. Other horizontal bandings on the building depict crops.

Trading floor showing octagonal trading pits

Elegant ligting fixture mimics the octagonal design of the pits.

Inspectors desks lined up against the north windows

Changing of prices done all by hand in chalk!

This people wore suits while performing their job!

Trading floor chaos

Paper thrown

Shouting

Hand signals

Eventually colored clothing indicated your role on the floor.

St. Michaels Church in uptown

Built in 1869

At 290 feet it was the tallest building in the USA for 16 years!

Original BOT building built in 1885

Note statues above main doorway

A clock tower was soon added in the same year and at 300 feet made this the tallest building, out ranking St. Michaels by only 10 feet!

These two 5 1/2 ton granite statues once stood over the main entrance of the Board of Trade Building built in 1885. The statues greeted commodity traders and the public for 45 years. They symbolize: 

• Agriculture 
• Industry

They were considered lost forever when the building was demolished in 1929 to make way for the current Art Deco structure. 

However, 75 years later In 2005 the statues were found in a warehouse in the suburbs and graciously returned to their origins through the generosity and goodwill of the DuPage County Forest Preserve District.

 Discovered at Hidden Lake Forest Preserve near Downers Grove. The preserve was the former estate of Arthur Cutten, a prominent Chicago Board of Trade speculator of the early 1900’s. 

How the statues made the journey from LaSalle Street to the Cutten estate is a mystery. Now a part of the LaSalle Street Plaza, the exchange’s symbolic statues serve as daily reminders of the vitality and creativity that fuel the growth of the city of Chicago and the Chicago Board of Trade

135 S LaSalle

Bank Of America Building 

(Marshall Field Office Bldg)

Architect Graham, Anderson & Probst 

Art Moderne Style (vs. Deco)

Circa 1934

The construction was completed in 1934 as a 45-story skyscraper. 

Last building built before Great Depression.

It was the first building in the city to be air conditioned and the first time there were water fountains installed in hallways on each floor.

High Speed Elevators  with the latest leveling devices

Built on the site of the previous first skyscraper in the world.

Home Insurance Building – circa 1885

Designed by William LeBaron Jenney who is credited with having invented the steel structure sky scraper.

Style: Art Moderne

Plain version of Art Deco 

Uses Only geometric shapes  

No decorative motifs. 

Simple Deco font on signage

4-story base that covers the entire site 

Polished black granite. 

Windows framed with pol. aluminum  

White Yule marble pilasters with zig zag patterns separate the bays

Revolving lobby doors 

Hexagonal flag poles – no expenses spared!

One North LaSalle 

Architect: Vitzthum & Burns

Circa 1930

At 49 stories it was Chicago’s tallest building for more than 30 years

One of Chicago’s best-surviving examples of Art Deco architecture

Iconic example of the soaring, streamlined skyscrapers 

One North LaSalle’s significant history is evidenced through its distinctive architectural details.  

It is built near the presumed site of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle’s 17th-century camp.  

Themed exterior and interior details  are about: Early explorers and their interaction with Native Americans of the region.  Main Motif:  Stylized feathers  – headdresses

The exterior carved limestone panels were executed by French sculptor Leon Hermant.

In 1928 Hermant was awarded the Legion d’honneur award by the French government for his limestone sculpture of Louis Pasteur in Grant Park. This award is the highest civil and military award of merit in France 

Since been moved to a Park near Cook County Hospital

Bas Relief Panels (protruding only slightly):

• Indian Chief
• William Clark (of Lewis & Clark)
• Jacques Marquette (Marquette & Joliet)
• Christopher Columbus
• Indian Chief
• Transportation and Atlas Panel. 

Transportation and Atlas Panel. 

Scales Of Justice Panel   (PIC)

Indian Chief 

Rene-Robert LaSalle

Louis Joliet

William Clark

Indian Chief

Hidden Y in iron work

Bronze elevator doors depicting full-figured female mythology figures named

• Prosperity 
• Abundance 

Symbolizes Success and Reputation

Not a shout-out to the history of the location, but to the building’s beginnings as a banking building. 

Onyx stone diamonds set into the gold metal light up when the elevators arrive.

Wall Sconces  – Not just any bird  but the Native American Thunderbird 

Elevator cabs are all original with exotic birds-eye maple and other rare wood panels and detailing along with stair stepped upside down pyramid lighting fixtures.

First United Methodist Church of Chicago

Oldest congregation in the city- Established 1831 – Started in log cabin on Chicago River

Circa 1924

Holabird & Root

Neo-Gothic

568-foot tall skyscraper 

Tallest church building in the world. 

Elevators to the 19st floor

Pastor’s parsonage is next three floors in the spire

Climb 25-30 steps single file in a tiny stairway to get to the top

Seats 30 people

Deco/Mayan influences

Commonwealth Edison Substation

Also called God Of Lightning 

Sculpted by Sylvia Shaw Judson in 1931

Notice refrigerator in the center

Notice workers cottages at the bottom!!

Sixteen years after she died, Judson suddenly became nationally known after the publication in 1994 of the sensational Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, whose cover was a hauntingly beautiful photo of a sculpture in Savannah’s Bonaventure Cemetery.

The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for a record 216 weeks and crowds of tourists descended on Savannah hoping to glimpse the little cast-bronze girl whose weary arms seemed to be weighing good and evil. At that time Judson was virtually unknown, and she was dramatically rediscovered when the remarkable figure turned out to be one that she created in 1936 

Bird Girl👧 

Movie was about the murder of a male hustler (Young Jude Law) by well known antiques dealer, Jim Williams (Kevin Spacey) in May 1981 and the following four murder trials that lasted more than eight years.

Others in the movie:

John Cusack

The Lady Chablis (Chablis Deveau) – One of the first Transgender club performer’s in NYC

All of the scenes in the move were filmed at the Mercer-Williams House on Monterey Square in Savannah Georgia

Marshall Field Store

Architect Daniel Burnham

Circa 1902 – 1906

Third largest store in the world

Meet Me Under The Clock Legend

Legend: Marshall Field decided that this corner should have a clock after he discovered notes wedged in the corners of the store’s new glass plate windows that pinpointed times and places to meet friends, family members, and business associates. 

Field determined that a clock could serve as a rendezvous spot for shoppers and also make them mindful of the time. It didn’t take long for the Chicago Tribune to report that women in Chicago were telling others to “Meet me under the clock at Marshall Field’s!”

Deco-styled elevator doors 

Fluted stainless steel panels above the doors

Bronze Deco-themed plaques 

Carbide & Carbon Building 

Architect Burnham Brothers

Circa 1929

The lavish Carbide and Carbon Building,

The building’s showstopping exterior is composed of black marble & green-tinted terracotta 

The base is a gorgeous, reflective black granite – a very popular material used in the Art Deco era because of its sleekness and glamor.

The rumor is that it was designed to look like a champagne bottle 

Truth is the top was designed to look like one of the batteries that would have used the chemicals that Carbide and Carbon made!

Spire is coated in a thin layer of 24-carat gold. 

The gold-leaf is not an imitation – it’s real 24 karat gold – pounded out making it 1/5000 of an inch thick! 

Frozen Fountain Motif

Quirky Frozen Fountain motif presented in a geometric format

Frozen Fountains – almost cartoonish

Zig Zags

Chicago Motor Club

Architect Holabird and Root

Circa 1928 

Dubbed The Temple of Transport 

Slim 17-story tower 

Built at record-breaking speed – in just 234 days – including demolition of previous structure!

Almost lost it but in 2012 it became a Hampton Inn

Everything about the building screams money, power, and progress, especially the lobby.  

Exterior motifs:

Wave/sunburst patterns in the limestone base of the building at sidewalk level also weave their way around the fabulous entrance doors.

LOTS of zigzags, frozen fountains and sunburst patterns

Limestone Panels: 

Square and diamond panels – Pelicans and other birds

Round panels: 

Chickadees and Peacocks (metaphor for luxury car ownership)

Wonderful frozen fountains and rosettes

The Club Logo

Close up of one of the peacocks

More frozen fountains and rosettes

The lobby was once a bustling hub of activity, crammed with guests waiting at the counter for a TourBook  (later TripTik & Atlases) that would guide them on their journeys over the newly paved roads depicted in the mural.

Notice the original kinetic floor (looking like highway markings) and light fixtures made to look like floating clouds.

20 foot x 30 foot painted map of the United States by John Norton, a widely known Chicago muralist, done in the modern, cubist style

Land masses: flat planes of pale gray and tan

Bodies of water: cubist patterns in pale green and blue

Cities: deep-orange squares 

19 transcontinental highways: a network of light gray lines connecting the cities

Mountain ranges: blue chevrons 

National Parks: bolded blue squares around chevrons

Legend indicating different elements in the mural – done very much in the style of a legend on an architectural drawing!

Font is very modern, sans serif and cubistic in nature

The Cudahy Library on the campus off Loyola University is an example of architect Andrew Rebori’s distinctive approach to early Modernism. ⠀

In its Donovan Reading Room is an Art Deco mural by John Warner Norton celebrating the late 17th century explorers of the Chicago region. 

The mural is a map of the Mississippi River created by a French Jesuit priest named Jacques Marquette in the 1670s and depicts the exploration and evangelization of native lands by Jesuit missionaries.

The map has come under recent scrutiny because some say it poorly depicts Indigenous people. 

Cudahy Library exterior in true Art Deco fashion!

Subursts, geometric shapes, rolling frozen fountains and a sundial!

Rebori’s work tended towards a more delicate and timeless vibe

Tree Studios Building Directory:

In the 20 years following the 1893 World’s Fair, Judge Lambert Tree and his wife Anne built Tree Studios to entice European artists to return to Chicago. It was a Who’s Who of American artists.

Norton had a work studio in the Tree Studios building hanging out with people like Peter Falk, Burgess Meredith and James Allen St. John!

Peter Falk was an actor known mostly for his role as Lt. Columbo.

Oliver Burgess Meredith was an American actor known for his roles in The Twilight Zone and The Penguin in the Batman TV Series in the 1960s

St John did illustrations for Edgar Rice Burroughs (also a Tree Studios tenant), creator of Tarzan and also a Tree Studios tenant.

John Storrs, whose Ceres, the goddess of grain, stands atop the Chicago Board of Trade.

From The Chicago Tribune: January 27, 1929

Look at the similarity in the font used between this article and the Tree Studios Building Directory

Architectural Photography Prints

Social Media Creator Services

Professional Interior Design Services

Walking Tours and Private Tours:

Art Deco / Oldtown / Wicker Park / Ravenswood Manor / Graceland Cemetery / Fine Arts Building

Doorways Of Chicago Coffee Table Book by Trope Publishing Launching in 2026 – Stay Tuned!

Route 66 Content Coming Soon!

I’m taking my tours abroad! Join me! My curated trip to Peru is launching: April 6-12, 2026. “Architecture, Ancestry & Ancient Doorways: Peru with Ronnie” tourhero.com. See you out on the world-wide trails!