Carbide & Carbon Building - Chicago's Champagne Tower
- 123gochicago
- Oct 28
- 2 min read
Standing tall, the Carbide & Carbon Building has been turning heads since 1929. With its dark green terra cotta façade and shimmering gold crown, it’s one of the most distinctive skyscrapers in Chicago — and one of the most glamorous symbols of the Art Deco era.
Designed by the Burnham Brothers, sons of legendary city planner Daniel Burnham, the building was commissioned by the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation. The Burnhams’ design was bold, luxurious, and unapologetically modern for its time — a reflection of the optimism and excess of the late 1920s.
And here’s the best part: legend says the building was literally designed to resemble a champagne bottle. In diary entries of meetings with the developer, Burnham wrote that the Union Carbide executives wanted a building similar to Raymond Hood's American Radiator Building in New York. They wanted it to be dark green, like the color of a champagne bottle. The executives hoped that the building's dramatic color would serve as advertising for the company and draw customers to the building's tenants. The deep green terra cotta tiles represent the glass, and the gold leaf tower represents the bottle’s foil wrapping. It’s a celebration in architectural form — a fitting symbol of the Jazz Age spirit just before the Great Depression.
Inside, the building was filled with polished marble, bronze accents, and geometric Art Deco detailing. Even today, you can still experience that timeless style. The Carbide & Carbon Building now serves as the Pendry Chicago Hotel, where the past meets the present in true Chicago fashion. The Pendry’s lobby retains much of the building’s original elegance, and the rooftop bar — Bar Pendry — offers modern luxury with historic charm.
When you pass by the tower, look up at that gold crown glinting in the sunlight. You’re seeing more than just a skyscraper — you’re seeing a time capsule of Chicago’s roaring ambition, captured forever in glass and gold.
Carbide & Carbon Building
230 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60602
Discover More Hidden Gems
For more hidden gems check out my book Chicago Beyond the Bean, available now. It’s filled with stories that take you beyond the typical tourist spots to explore the city’s most fascinating corners.
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