{"nrhp_refnum":"70000231","name":"Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company","other_names":["Schlisinger and Mayer Store Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 S. State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.88174504800003,"lon":-87.62760374499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-04-17","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1978-06-16","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A department store building at the southeast corner of State and Madison Streets in Chicago, Illinois, built in stages from 1899 to 1904 and designed by Louis H. Sullivan, with later additions in 1906 and 1960.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it considered by many to be Louis Sullivan's greatest masterpiece and the ultimate achievement of the Chicago School. Its skeleton construction, wide Chicago windows and organic ornament express the function of a department store. It was Sullivan's last large commercial building and is cited as influential in modern architecture.","narrative":"At the southeast corner of State and Madison Streets in Chicago, this department store was built in stages between 1899 and 1904 for the dry goods firm Schlesinger and Mayer, with Louis H. Sullivan as architect. Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company bought the firm in 1904. The iron and steel frame is sheathed in white terra cotta above the second story, and wide Chicago windows light open sales floors. The first two stories are framed in ornamental ironwork, which Sullivan's draftsman George Grant Elmslie described as a flowing picture frame for the window displays. The curved corner entrance adds a vertical accent. D. H. Burnham and Company added five bays on State Street in 1906, the cornice was replaced by a parapet in 1948, and Holabird and Root designed a Sullivan-style addition in 1960. The building was cited as a Chicago landmark in 1957 and is regarded as the high point of the Chicago School and Sullivan's last large commercial work.","period_of_significance":"1903-1904","architect_builder":"Louis H. Sullivan (architect); D. H. Burnham and Company (1906 addition); Holabird and Root (1960 addition)","architectural_style":"Chicago School","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in excellent condition and altered; occupied and in commercial use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.698511-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/8921/28892154/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/70000231.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000231/8ee370ef2a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000231/8ee370ef2a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jonrev at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carson_Pirie_Scott_building_during_renovations_in_2007.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jonrev at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carson_Pirie_Scott_building_during_renovations_in_2007.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"98001351","name":"Loop Retail Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/loop-retail-historic-district-98001351/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892154","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sullivan_Center","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1324863"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/carson-pirie-scott-and-company-70000231/"}