Corporate photography at The Rookery

The Rookery is the 1888 office building at 209 South LaSalle Street, designed by Burnham and Root and described as one of the world's first skyscrapers. Its interior light court was later restored by Frank Lloyd Wright, and that court is why the building appears on every architectural itinerary in the city: marble, gold leaf, an ironwork stair and a skylight over the whole space. It is still a working multi tenant office building rather than a museum piece, standing on the LaSalle Street canyon a short walk from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago at 230 South LaSalle and from Northern Trust, which has been at 50 South LaSalle since 1905. Being a working building has a practical consequence for a portrait program. Suites in a restored 1888 frame are smaller than a floor plate in a new tower, so a company here is usually one floor and one day rather than a week of consecutive dates, and the schedule can afford to be generous with each person.

The Rookery is a multi tenant historic office building rather than a single company address, so there is no anchor name to give here. What that means in practice is scale: suites in a restored 1888 building are generally smaller than a new tower floor plate, so a program here is often one floor and one day rather than a week. If your team is in this building, send the head count and the floor and we size the schedule to it.

The light court is the reason most people want to photograph in this building, and it is the part that needs permission. It is a public and heavily visited space, so any session in it is arranged through building management with a time agreed in advance, usually early. The portraits themselves can be made in a conference room on your own floor with an outlet, which needs nothing beyond your own booking. An 1888 building also means older elevators and tighter corridors, so confirm the freight arrangement early and we size the equipment to what the building can actually take.

We photograph on site, in your own office. If your team is in this building, the notes below are what the day looks like. Nothing here is a claim to a past session in it, and no tenant named is a client unless it says so elsewhere on this site.