One of the most famous early skyscrapers, the store's large windows and clear geometry were very advanced for its time.

The sleek modern design is augmented by Louis Sullivan's intricate ornamentation around the windows and covering the lower two floors.

Sullivan's ornament reaches its peak at the rounded entrance, where it bursts into full effusion. The style is related to art nouveau with its geometric plant-like forms.

The building's lines are strongly horizontal, except at the rounded corner where they turn sharply vertical.

Besides Carson Pirie Scott, the other flagship department store remaining on State Street is the Macy's at State Street. There is also a Sears at the opposite corner.

Two major additions have extended the building to the south, both designed by different architects but integrated with the original design.

The store takes up most of a city block, and is connected inside to several buildings to the east along Wabash Avenue.

The building's original cornice is missing but the owners plan to restore it within the next few years.

The first section of the store to be built was nine stories high, and appears today as the three easternmost bays on Madison Street. The 12-story corner section was an addition to this in 1903.

The building was constructed as a replacement for the 1873 Schlesinger & Mayer store at the same corner, designed by William W. Boyington.

This store appears in Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie when Carrie's lover buys her a skirt and a shirtwaist here.

It was a named a National Historic Landmark in 1975.