Carbide & Carbon Building, Chicago

If Fitzgerald's Gatsby ever built a skyscraper, it might have looked a lot like the Carbide & Carbon Building鈥擟hicago鈥檚 own shimmering ode to the 1920s excess. Dreamed up by the Burnham Brothers and wrapped up just before the party ended in 1929, this Art Deco showstopper was the brainchild of the Carbide and Carbon Company鈥攖hose folks who helped invent the dry cell battery. Apparently, charging things and charging forward in style went hand in hand back then...

The exterior is all black granite, green terra cotta, and actual gold leaf (yes, real 24-karat gold, although thinner than your patience in traffic), capping it all off with a glimmer that still turns heads on Michigan Avenue. It鈥檚 like the building dressed up to the nines for the Roaring Twenties and never took the outfit off...

Step inside the lobby and you鈥檙e instantly transported to a time when opulence wasn鈥檛 a dirty word. Frosted glass, Belgian marble, and a whole lot of 鈥渓ook at me鈥� energy made it a showroom for the company鈥檚 latest innovations, but let鈥檚 be honest鈥攊t mostly just flexed.

Then the stock market crashed, the sequel building never got off the ground, and the jazz got a little quieter. Still, the Carbide & Carbon Building held its pose, eventually scoring landmark status in 1994 and getting a glam $106-million makeover in 2004. For a while, it rocked out as the Hard Rock Hotel, proving it could party just as hard in the 21st century as ever.

Today, it remains one of the Loop鈥檚 most bedazzled icons鈥攁 monument to ambition, design, and just a hint of gold-plated swagger.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Chicago. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "黑料吃瓜网: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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Create Your Own Self-Guided Walk to Visit This Sight

Sight Name: Carbide & Carbon Building
Sight Location: Chicago, USA (See walking tours in Chicago)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Loop District Architecture Walking Tour

Walking Tours in Chicago, Illinois

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Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
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