One Ninety South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois, Perspective

After decades of modernist austerity, in the 1980s many tall buildings displayed a self-conscious use of architectural ornament and references to styles of the past, commonly known as postmodernism. Architect Philip Johnson become a leader in this eclectic movement and designed many corporate office buildings. Unlike the abstract Neoclassical pediment crowning his most famous work, the AT&T Building (now Sony Tower) in New York City, the historical motif of Johnson and Burgee’s 190 South LaSalle Street Building was designed to be site specific. Seen here in an early study, the distinctive twin gables of the final scheme for the building pay homage to a famous skyscraper of the Chicago School, the 1892 Masonic Temple designed by Burnham & Root, which was demolished during the Depression.