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Mapping the Lost Mansions of Chicago's Gilded Age

Chicago is rightly famed for its ground-breaking architecture and while the Loop's tall skyscrapers often steal the spotlight, the city also had its share of great mansions built for tycoons with names like Field, McCormick and Pullman. These expressions of gilded age wealth employed great architects like H.H. Richardson, Adler & Sullivan and S.S. Beman, among others. Many of the earliest examples were constructed on South Prairie Avenue where few, like the Glessner House, remain to this day. Others followed the lead of the Palmers and constructed their mansions on North Lake Shore Drive where most fell victim to dense urban redevelopment. Today, we shine a spotlight on 15 of these lost palaces, many of which still live on in the city's collective memory.

The map is this way >>