Designed by famous architectural partners, Burnham and Root, the picturesque Rookery was originally completed in 1888. Adding to its impressive stature, Frank Lloyd Wright redesigned the stunning two…Full review by inspiruption
Apr 8, 2025
Yesterday, my wife and I visited The Rookery for its architecture and discovered that a tour would start in 4 minutes. We hopped along, and the 45-minute tour taught us how to approach this historic …Full review by Pedro D
Mar 29, 2025
This historic 12 storey office building was built in 1888 and is located at 209 South LaSalle Street. It was one of the first buildings to use the steel frame interior and walled exterior building me…Full review by Charles S
Do you need to join a tour or can visit the building by yourself? Can you visit only The Light Court or any other areas of the building?
A:
The main floor of the building is open to the public, but the interesting area of the much-photographed stairway is not. The tour is very informative, and there's lots of detail to learn …
The main floor of the building is open to the public, but the interesting area of the much-photographed stairway is not. The tour is very informative, and there's lots of detail to learn about on the first and second level. BUT, they don't go past the second level. There are some historic rooms elsewhere in the building, and I heard they used to go there, but I went on the tour, and we stayed in sight of the main level. A great tour guide from our boat tour highly recommended walking into any building that tickles your fancy, and we did. Just be polite, ask where you can walk around in and if you can take pictures. The best explore we did was in the Intercontinental Hotel on the magic mile. I was told they will lend you an iPad to do a self guided tour. Stunning hotel. Brilliant wine bar on the main floor...