Reliance Building

The Reliance Building is a skyscraper located at 1 W. Washington Street in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois.

The first floor and basement were designed by John Root of the Burnham and Root architectural firm in 1890, with the rest of the building completed by Charles B. Atwood in 1895.

The Reliance Building is an early skyscraper at 1 West Washington Street in the Chicago Loop, begun to a design by John Wellborn Root for its first floor and basement in 1890 and completed to a revised design by Charles B. Atwood in 1895. Built in the Chicago School style with a steel frame that weighed a third less than an equivalent stone structure, it is generally credited as the first skyscraper to cover most of its exterior in large plate glass windows, a feature framed by white glazed terracotta cladding that later became a dominant look of 20th century commercial architecture. The building was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and underwent a 27.5 million dollar restoration completed in 1999. It now operates as a boutique hotel, the Loop by Staypineapple, with 122 rooms behind its historic facade.

architecture: Chicago School

It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows covering the majority of its surface area-a design feature that became dominant in the 20th century.