Walk east on Monroe to State Street, and you'll find the Carson Pirie Scott Building, designed by architect Louis Sullivan.
Built in 1899 and sold to Carson Pirie Scott in 1904, it served as a major retail destination until Carson's closed in 2007. The building is a steel structure, allowing for wide, horizontal windows providing natural light and handy spots to showcase merchandise. It's beautiful rounded tower at the building's corner entrance features cast iron ornamentation that draws in the pedestrian's eye from both State and Madison Street -- another example of "form follows function."
Check this out: After Carson's closed and moved out, the building owners renamed it the Sullivan Center. Given that it was the "Carson's Building" for over 100 years, the new name will likely take a generation or two to catch on.
