Sullivan Center | The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago with Geoffrey Baer

Sullivan Center

If you’re running errands downtown and stop at the Target at State and Madison streets, you might notice it’s one of the fancier entrances to a Target store that you can find. It’s located in the Sullivan Center, named for its architect, Louis Sullivan. It was originally the Schlessinger & Mayer Department store, and then it was later renamed the Carson Pirie Scott & Co. Building. When it was completed in 1899 and expanded again a few years later, its location at bustling State and Madison made it one of the many beautiful buildings that created a commercial hub along State Street. In the striking ornamented cast-iron entrance at State and Madison, you can find the initials L. H. S. (Louis Henry Sullivan). Sullivan believed that form should follow function, so the building’s lavish ornament framing wide glass windows at street level were designed to show off the merchandise within and attract passersby. The more subdued, grid-like facade above reflects the need of the upper floors to bring light into the store. The only passersby up there would be birds, not customers.