Chicago is an architectural paradise. Well-known landmarks aside, the city's side streets and boulevards feature a wide array of styles and eras. Many are well-built and reflect the degree of wealth that could be found in various sections of the city at different times. A mainly brick city, Chicago's buildings were often built of quality materials with excellent workmanship. A block of bungalows or three-flats, typical as it may be considered here, would be a landmark block in almost any other city.

The coverage of architecture within this section is varied, and presents a number of different perspectives. While one page may showcase the career or highlights of a particular architectural firm, others cover styles or a specific type of building. We present here an always growing collection of architectural documentation and research that seeks to showcase relatively unknown but important parts of Chicago's architectural heritage.

• Defining the Four Plus One: Under-appreciated mid-century apartment building type.
  

• Disused Fire Stations Part 1 – 19th Century: Fire stations no longer in service.
  

• Disused Police Stations: Get "taken downtown."
  

• Expressway Parks: Building the expressways left small pockets of land unused. Some were converted to parks.
  

• Fire Insurance Patrol Stations: The remaining stations of an organization disbanded long ago.
  

• Michael Reese Hospital: Formerly prominent hospital slated for demolition.
  

• Municipal Parking Garages: Modernist monuments to the automobile.
  

• Pony Express: Pre-1930 post offices.
  

• Postcards Part 1 – Storefronts: Viewing the past through rose-tinted glasses.
  

• Public Bath Houses: Bathhouses built by the city in the late 19th and early 20th century to improve hygiene in poor immigrant neighborhoods.
  

• Save These Theatres: Three endangered movie palaces.
  

• St. Ignatius Architecture Graveyard: Collection of ornament from notable buildings.
  

• Tied Houses: Pre-Prohibition era saloons built and financed by breweries.