Realtor Building

Reflection of the Chicago Tribune Building in the glass facade of the Realtor Building across Michigan Avenue.

Originally the Apollo Savings and Loan Building, 430 North Michigan Avenue building was completed in 1963. Very modest 10-story building with a grid of glass windows facade divided with four concrete columns.

In 1991 it added two more floors. In 2008 it got that glitzy curved glass facade.

In 2013 it almost got demolished for a sin of being “unremarkable” but plans for a replacement skyscraper fell through. The building got to live another day.

In 2019 it got a hat, a round glass structure for the rotunda boardroom on the 13th floor.

Still it looks like an uninvited guest at the fashionable party between the giants of Wrigley Building, Chicago Tribune Tower and InterContinental Tower.

The building was designed by architect Fred H. Prather. He built a fire station, an apartment building and he left his legacy at 430 North Michigan Avenue.

Fred H. Prather. Nothing left of him. No records, no stories, no students. Just a gravestone and this building.

We remember his name only because of the building he had designed.

There is an incredible privilege of being an architect: like Egyptian pharaohs they build their own pyramids while they are still alive.