Palmolive Beacon

The Palmolive Building at 919 North Michigan Avenue is crowned with a powerful beacon. Holabird and Root, the architects who created the Chicago Board of Trade, also created this high-rise between 1927 and 1929. Its 37 floors and Indiana limestone exterior dominated the Lake Shore area in its early years. Its rooftop beacon was used for 50 years to guide both maritime and aerial traffic. The beacon is now obsolete having been dominated by those on much taller structures. From 1965 to 1989, this building was known as the Playboy Building as Hugh Hefner considered this address his home and magazine headquarters. This Art Deco gem is not only a Chicago Landmark, but was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.