Civic Opera House

The Civic Opera Building is defined by its unusual shape, which resembles a colossal armchair facing the Chicago River. This massive structure, designed by the firm Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, consists of a forty-five-story central office tower flanked by two twenty-two-story wings. Because of its silhouette, locals and critics nicknamed it Insull’s Throne after Samuel Insull, the utility magnate who commissioned the project.